


Sakura Blossoms

by eevaeon



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, Gen, Haruno Sakura-centric, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Haruno Sakura, Self-Indulgent, Strong Haruno Sakura, Time Travel, ranting with spoilers in chapter notes beware i get heated af
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-01-01 05:16:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12149412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eevaeon/pseuds/eevaeon
Summary: There's nobody left except Sakura.This time, she's going to fix things.





	1. The Beginning of Change

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote 13 pages of this nonsense in one sitting bc I felt so indignant about how Sakura got treated. Sakura is my homie. I can rant about this for years. I won't do it here, don't worry.
> 
> you writers out there plz write me more sakura centric stuff plz she deserves s o much fuck these other characters dude

Ashes. Blood. Dust.

 

Sakura stared at her hands where they were clenched against the ground. They were red with blood and the ground underneath began to crack.

 

With this, it could be over.

 

Death. Life. Change.

 

Sakura took a deep breath, not one of hesitation but one of determination. There was strength in her fists, and the earth cracked beneath her power.

 

It began to rain, and Sakura let the water pour over her. She was ready, this time. She wouldn’t let anyone die this time. Another deep breath, for preparation. On legs as shaky as a newborn deer, she slowly stood up. She almost slipped on the newly made mud. Someone as advanced and powerful as she- slipping on mud. Maybe it was all of the loss, the pain, the dullness- but something inside her warmed up and came together. Something sparked and Sakura tossed her head back and laughed for the first time in two years.

 

It had been two years since the war. They thought they were winning. It had felt so sure and so passionate. Sakura remembered how there was pain and loss, but there was undeniable hope. There was Naruto’s everlasting optimism that shone through every death and every obstacle which, in turn, spread through the ranks. They had fought, and fought, and fought.

 

Sakura could still hear the screams, the tears, the sheer effort they all put in. She remembered the desperation that accompanied every patient she received. Slowly but surely their numbers were whittled down. They were forced to retreat.

  
Sakura still wasn’t sure how she survived the cull. How she was the only survivor. If it was fate, then fate sure had an awful sense of humor.

 

For a year, Sakura ran. And as she ran, she thought and she begged and she felt. It wasn’t fair, that she should survive out of everyone. It wasn’t right. Someone strong should have survived. Someone stronger than her.

 

That year had been a year of terror. She spent it mostly on her feet, with little rest. There wasn’t a second that her muscles didn’t ache with exertion. There wasn’t a second that her heart didn’t beat faster than the wind. There were villages ravaged from war and time that she managed to scavenge for supplies. She darted in and out, gathering what food, water, and medicines she could carry before dashing out and hoping nobody noticed.

 

She cut her hair and rubbed her head over with dirt, hoping to dull the color so nobody would recognize her just in case she was seen. Still, she ran. She ran and she ran and she could feel her chakra and energy depleting as she continued to run.

 

It had taken a long time, but eventually she found a nice forest spot, tucked away from everyone’s eyes where she could rest. It was a grassy area, hidden by dense trees packed together. Best of all, it was right next to a raging waterfall. She was so tired and worn down that she hadn’t even properly scouted the area out before she had collapsed from exhaustion. She slept for two days as her body tried to mend itself and her energy flowed back into her.

 

Then, it was the year of change. In face of hopelessness and loneliness, Sakura began change. She wasn’t overly optimistic that she alone could change the tides of war. She was sure that everyone left was either dead or near to. But still she trained.

 

She slowly built a small base, remembering what she could about architecture and wood bending. She wasn’t as good as say, Yamato, and she probably never would without the secrets of his jutsu. Bitterly, she remembered how he and every other teacher had focused on Sasuke and Naruto. Of course she thought they were all well within their rights to do so, considering. It had been necessary to focus on the two powerhouses instead of the clanless little girl who had little more than good chakra control.

 

Of course she had had Tsunade, but Sakura couldn’t help but think of how much stronger she’d be if she had had the same base as the others. It wasn’t fair that even so young as a genin, she had been shoved in with the two most troublesome and most strong boys and then put under the care of someone like Kakashi. It wasn’t fair, but then again, life wasn’t fair.

 

Sakura understood choices, much more than she had as a young child. Sakura understood choices, power, and regret.

 

Once, she was but a little girl who was only good at climbing up trees. But no longer.

 

That second year, she repeated over and over to herself that this time, she was the teacher and she was going to give herself the best damned training she could. With a somewhat decent base hidden and protected with traps, Sakura let herself venture a little further. With the help of the advanced henge jutsu she learned from Tsunade, she began sneaking into villages both destroyed and standing. She observed and calculated and began to formulate missions for herself. She stole scrolls and seals and books of all types.

 

And she learned.

 

Once her makeshift library was more than full and bursting, she began to train herself in all types of jutsus. She lost herself in genjutsu, ninjutsu, sealing techniques, and traps of all sorts.  She set up training dummies for herself and practiced her taijutsu as best she could without a live partner. She sparred with clones of herself, trying her best to be unpredictable or calculating depending. She worked on her aim with kunai, senbon, anything she could get her hands on. She got stronger, and she got smarter.

 

Sakura had found so much information, so many jutsus. Most of them were common types, but some were clan protected secrets that she was only privy to since there was no one left. She continued to learn these and continued to make runs to find more. She trained and studied all day, every day, until she almost keeled over from exhaustion. She always was the perfect student.

 

It was on her fourth run that she found the scroll. The village she found it in had been decimated and Sakura had been so frustrated with her findings that day. She had hoped to collect much, much more than she had on the trip. It had been a hard day of memories, and the screams of the fallen cascaded down upon her until she felt frenzied with feelings. She had punched the ground with a cry, putting much more chakra in it than she intended.

 

It was then that she had found more. So much more.

 

It was then that she found the scroll.

 

Now, she stared at that exact scroll. She had studied it for days, weeks, maybe months. And now she was ready.

 

It was a complex jutsu. Overly complex. When she had first started studying it, she had guessed that was so whoever used it would have enough time to be interrupted. She didn’t even attempt to find ways to shortcut it. That would be far too dangerous. It would take her at least 20 hours, uninterrupted, to complete.

 

Sakura had one chance.

 

With one more breath and a drink of water, Sakura slowly channeled chakra and began the hand symbols.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


When she awoke next, it was as a 12-year-old girl rather than the 19-year-old-woman she left her time as.

 

She woke up in her bed, feeling more comfortable than she had in ages. Her room was the same light blue as always and she could see the snippets of her childhood decorating the interior. The sun shone through her window and onto her light pink comforter, warming her inside and out.

 

It worked.

 

Haruno Sakura had officially traveled back in time using the most overly complicated and mentally and physically intensive jutsu she had ever seen in her life.

 

Slowly, she wiggled her toes, her legs, her hands. She ran herself through a dozen small tests before she was satisfied she had full motor control. And for the second time in two years, she laughed.

 

She laughed with joy and grief together. She had left behind war, and with it a history of relationships and hardship. This was the second chance. This was her second chance and she wasn’t going to squander it.  

 

“Sakura?” Her mother, Mebuki, knocked lightly on her door. Sakura took a quick breath before slowly breathing out.

 

“Yes, mother?” Sakura responded, heart beating rapidly as her door slowly opened and her mother’s face peeked through. Her mother was beautiful. Sakura drank in her appearance, and desperately fought the urge to cry. She was a twelve-year-old girl though and regardless of time travel and 19 years of the shinobi life, a preteen’s hormones are always overpowering.

 

Mebuki’s inquiring smile quickly turned into concern as she bruskly walked over to wrap her arms around her daughter.

 

“Sakura, what’s wrong?”

 

There was so much that had been wrong. Sakura knew then the hardships she would face, coming from a miserable past to a new future. Her parents knew not of the struggles of war or the burdens that Sakura had. How could they? Time travel aside, they were only of genin rank and rarely, if ever, had seen actual conflict. But that wasn’t her parents’ fault.

 

Sakura let herself be held and melted into the comforting warmth of her mother’s embrace. There was no understanding in the hug, but there was love all the same and Sakura had to remind herself that that was all that mattered.

 

“Just a bad dream, mother,” Sakura finally whispered, tugging her mother close for a second before pulling back and composing herself.

 

“Alright, dear,” Mebuki said. As she looked at her daughter though, she noticed her daughter’s eyes seemed heavier and her little girl seemed much older than she was. Her daughter had somehow matured overnight, but it could be just nerves. After all, it was the day.

 

“Are you ready to be assigned to your genin team?” Mebuki asked gently. Sakura lifted her head to stare at her mother in wonder.

 

“Is that today?” Sakura murmured, a slow smile spreading through her face. Today was the first day of her new life and what a day it would be. Mebuki patted her daughter on the back before standing up. Back to business.

 

“Breakfast will be done soon, so get ready and we can all eat together,” Mebuki said, slipping out of the room with a soft smile. Sakura found herself mirroring the smile. She had lost so much, but here she was again with everything she held near and dear with her.

 

After a quick shower and brushing her teeth, Sakura headed to her wardrobe. It felt strange to be without her flak jacket, but soon enough she’d have it again. She remembered what she used to wear as a child, but she was different now. She let her hand rest on her old red dress with an ironic and bitter smirk. No more fawning fan girl. She was different. This time, she would surpass herself as she was. She would never fall behind again.

 

With that last thought, Sakura grabbed a muted red, sleeveless top and the full coverage, black pants that she vaguely remembered her mother buying her. She wrapped her bandages around her legs and arms and  strapped her kunai and shuriken secure.

 

When Sakura looked at herself in the mirror, for the first time in ages, she felt pleased. With one sad smile, she put the finishing touch and tied up her hair. She let a few strands frame her face, but otherwise everything was up in a high ponytail.

 

Vanity would not be her downfall.

 

Mebuki watched her daughter come into the dining room with a throbbing sense of nostalgia, fondness, and only a little bit of sadness. Her daughter was growing up so quick. It was only yesterday that her daughter wore her hair down and that pretty dress her father bought her even though Mebuki disapproved wholeheartedly of a training shinobi wearing something so ostentatious. Sakura had blabbered on about how excited she was to find out who her team was and what Ino did to annoy her last or how Sasuke had done this or that.

 

Now, her beautiful daughter moved more gracefully than even the full fledged jounin Mebuki saw about. Gone was the bright dress and the anxious excitement. Had she not looked so physically young, Mebuki would have seen a woman there instead. Something changed overnight, and Mebuki had no idea what it was. Mebuki wouldn’t ask questions though. Her little girl seemed healthy and sane, and she would tell them if something was truly wrong.

 

“Are you excited for team selection?” Kizashi, Sakura’s father, asked with a jaunty grin, expecting an enthusiastic response.

 

“Absolutely, father,” Sakura responded. “I’m excited to begin my true training as a shinobi of Konoha.”

 

“And to be with Sasuke-kun, eh?” Kizashi prodded, laughing. Mebuki turned a halfhearted glare at her husband.

 

“Perhaps. What will be will be,” Sakura answered. She smiled innocently at her parents and picked up her bowl of miso soup. She had thought of Sasuke in those two years, of course. She had thought of everybody. His name was a dull ache in her heart. She had been so young, as she was now, when she claimed to be in love with him. And she had been. Not as young as this, but throughout the years she fell in love. Now that love was nothing but a reminder of the past and a curiosity for the future. She would always be fond of him, but this time around she was going to be the shinobi she knew she was.

 

“You’ve grown so fast, Sakura,” Kizashi pouted, but his eyes were crinkled with affection. The three finished eating and then her parents had sent her well wishes accompanied with fond hugs and they were off to work. Sakura waved them goodbye before hopping up on the roofs to run to class.

 

When she arrived, she was earlier than the rest of the class. One by one, her fellow peers trickled in and Sakura had to hold in the painfully tight ache she felt seeing her old friends pass by. When Ino walked by, giving what was then a standard glare, she couldn’t resist and she shot her hand out to grab Ino’s.

 

“What is it, forehead? Wanna fight?” Ino bit out, a childish glare on her cute face. She didn’t pull her hand away though. Sakura smiled instinctually.

 

“Good luck with teams, Ino-chan,” Sakura wished her, her voice sweet and completely genuine. She gave Ino’s hand a squeeze and watched as Ino blushed a little bit and glared off to the side.

 

“I already know who I’m gonna be with, geez. You too, Sakura-chan,” Ino returned and then gave the pink-haired girl a small smile before hesitantly joining a few of her other friends to sit with. Even with her friends, Ino glanced at her old friend, taking in the new changes.

 

When Sasuke walked in, Sakura carefully kept her face straight and didn’t even look at him. She heard the squeals of Ino and a few of the other girls as they tried to greet him, receiving only silence in return. Sasuke passed by her desk, and still Sakura said nothing and kept her eyes forward. Still, she could sense him glance at her before walking to a seat far away from everyone else.

 

When Naruto came into the room, it was all Sakura could do to not run up to him and pull him into a tight hug. Instead, she let him walk up to her and blush.

 

“Are you going to sit or what, Naruto-kun?” Sakura asked, injecting as much playfulness into her voice as possible. She had never been so polite or nice to Naruto at this age. His surprised expression was worth every single second of pain and training she put in. Though, she’d never use any sort of honorific with his name again. Not even if he ended up Hokage. That just felt wrong.

 

Naruto beamed at her before sitting down and immediately running his mouth at her. He had a crush on her now, and Sakura hoped to somehow dash that without being cruel but for now she sat there and listened to him ramble with all the annoyed fondness of a close sister and friend.

 

She felt Sasuke’s eyes on them the whole time.

 

Finally, it was time for teams to be announced, and Sakura stayed quiet through those as well even as Sasuke and Naruto argued in the background.

 

That day, she ate lunch alone and ran off by herself to test some things. Her chakra pool was significantly smaller, and her muscles not as strong or defined. She was, for all intents and purposes, a 12-year-old girl. Still, Sakura retained all the knowledge of her past 19 years as well as muscle memory and her outstanding instincts. In fact, the only real thing she had to do was build up her stamina and muscles again. And so, with a determined sigh, Sakura set off to run.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sakura watched as the eraser hit Kakashi squarely on the head.

 

“My first impression? How should I put this… Immense dislike,” Kakashi’s eye closed cheerfully. Sakura felt a warmth spread through her chest. It was good to see her teacher again. And this time, she wouldn’t be the weak link. This time she would get the most out of Kakashi’s teachings as she could and if she impressed enough, maybe she’d receive the same treatment as the other two.

 

She wouldn’t be pushed aside.

 

She was better than that.

 

She was better.

 

“Well, let’s begin with introducing yourselves. Your likes, your dislikes, your dreams for the future and things like that,” Kakashi began, just as he had in the old timeline. Just as expected, Naruto and Sasuke both had the same answers as before. Sakura could tell that Kakashi didn’t have high hopes for any of them, and she was sure that all anyone in the group saw was an obsessive fangirl.

 

“My name is Haruno Sakura. I enjoy reading and training, I dislike being looked down on, and my dream for the future? To be the best shinobi I can be and help change the future for the better,” Sakura introduced herself, completely changing from what she remembered saying way back when. She almost winced hearing herself say it though. It seemed there was no way to introduce oneself in a non-embarrassing manner.

 

Still, she could feel the intrigued stares from Kakashi and Sasuke both and Naruto was telling her how cool she was so she guessed she didn’t screw up too badly. Still, it was the bell challenge where she’d truly get to show off and shine.

 

In her old timeline, Sakura would never have even attempted showing off the way she was itching to here. Showing off her looks? Sure. But showing off her skills as a shinobi? It took a long time for Sakura to be comfortable in her own strength. Before she had been so worried that Sasuke would become jealous or angry at her for being better at something. She had learned that during the tree-walking training. And besides, showing off too much would mean putting in effort. Effort meant sweat and potentially dirt or other things and those meant not looking her best.

 

Sakura was ready to blow them all out of the water. Not too much though. She didn’t want to raise too many suspicions. Then she could be found out, or interrogated, or promoted. She had to stay on this team, yet somehow change the way the team was. It was going to be a lot of hard work.

 

Sasuke wasn’t completely cold hearted and hardened as a child. Determined and a little frosty? Of course, but what cool kid wasn’t? Alone and angry? Without a doubt. But he wasn’t the monster that he became- one who would leave a girl unconscious and alone in the dark public while he left for his demons- until later.

 

And so, Sakura had hope. This time around, she would try her damndest to fix things with both Sasuke and Naruto. They had to be a team this time around. A real team.

 

It was tough not talking to Naruto and Sasuke like they were all 19 and war hardened. It was tough not being able to confide in them and trust that they’d have her back as surely as she would have theirs. Before they had died, the three of them had finally risen to their potential, and Sakura was sure that they could have gone even further given more time. Their teamwork was second to none, not even the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. There were casual, inside jokes, jabs, and fluid fighting that came with years of experience and practice together. There was the pain, the passion, the happiness that came with their unique friendship.

 

Sakura missed it all dearly.

 

She was determined to build it back. This time, they’d reach that sooner and surpass it if she had anything to do with it.

 

She was sure.

 

“The details are on this paper. Don’t be late tomorrow,” Kakashi said, breaking her out of her reverie. Sakura almost snorted at the last part. With a cheerful wave, their teacher disappeared without a trace. The three students looked at each other.

 

“Sakura-chan!” Naruto said excitedly. She looked at the bubbling boy in front of her, filled with exuberance and good intent.

 

God, did she wish she had changed things in her original timeline. Of course they had grown close, but Sakura wanted to hit something when she thought of how alone Naruto was early on. How very alone.

 

She remembered how horribly she treated him, even when they became a team.

 

“Hey Naruto,” Sakura responded cheerfully. She could change things this time. Naruto wouldn’t be alone, not anymore. “What’s up?”

 

“Wanna train?” Naruto asked eagerly, though Sakura could detect some sort of vulnerability behind it. He probably thought that earlier was just a one time deal, or some sort of fluke or temporary insanity. Sakura’s heart clenched and she smiled a little wider.

 

“Sounds good,” she agreed. She looked over at Sasuke, who was looking between the two of them with carefully hidden suspicion and curiosity. She glanced over at Naruto, then sighed. The two of them had been bitter rivals for a long time in the old timeline, and she suspected that at least some of that would happen in this one as well.

 

“Do you want to train with us, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked, smiling politely and trying not to look in any way overeager or rabid. It worked, because Sasuke hesitated just a bit before turning around.

 

“No.”

 

“Plbbbt, we don’t need an idiot like you anyway!” Naruto stuck his tongue out at the receding figure.

 

“You’re the biggest idiot here, dummy,” Sasuke called back over his shoulder. Sakura rolled her eyes. Boys will be boys.

 

“Hey Naruto, wanna learn a cool trick?” Sakura asked after Naruto and Sasuke had finished their weird little insult ritual.

 

“Yeah? Like what?” Naruto hopped from foot to foot, too much energy bottled up. Sakura knew exactly how to expel some of that energy. She gestured towards a tree and together they ambled towards it. When they got to the foot of the tree, Naruto stopped, but Sakura continued up and up the tree until she was upside down on a branch just like Kakashi was all those years back in Wave country.

 

“Woah! How’d you do that, huh? Show me! Show me!” Naruto jumped up and down before attempting to walk up himself. He promptly fell. Still, the blinding grin on his face was no less diminished and Sakura nearly cried at how beautiful and pure he was as a boy. How could she and the rest of them have treated him the way they did? Of course it wasn’t all their fault, they just followed their parents.

 

How could grown adults, capable of reasoning and logic, see this boy and treat him so terribly? How could they not see the sacrifice, the hardship, and the pain he went through? And if they did see the pain and the loneliness, how could they let a little orphan boy suffer that? How?

 

Sakura shook her head free of the thoughts. It didn’t matter, because she was here now. And she would change things.

 

“I’m going to assume you don’t remember what chakra is,” Sakura said, admonishing but fond. Naruto looked at her with a blank look. She sighed. Just like old times. She walked down the tree and began her lessons on chakra control.

 

“Wow, you’re a genius, Sakura-chan!” Naruto praised her after her simplified and easy-to-follow explanation of chakra and how it linked to tree walking.

 

“And don’t you forget it. Now go and channel some chakra into your feet and try walking,” Sakura instructed. She laughed to herself. If only Kakashi from the old timeline could see her now. The student becomes the teacher. Of course, she was still a student too here. Still, she thought maybe she had a bit of a knack for it as she watched Naruto manage three feet up the tree trunk before falling off. Maybe once she reached jounin she’d become an instructor.

 

“Sakura, look! Look how far I’ve gotten! I’ve done it!” Naruto yelled, panting and out of breath, after a good hour or two. Throughout the time, Naruto faced frustration and failure and Sakura made sure to encourage him to do better as well as spur him on with the idea of beating Sasuke. During the same time, Sakura had practiced her own chakra control with smaller objects like the leaves and pebbles around, trying this and that with them. She looked up and saw Naruto sitting on a branch about 15 feet up. She was proud.

 

“Good job!” She called back, and still watched the shock settle on Naruto’s face momentarily before being replaced with a blush and a jaunty wave before he jumped down. She wanted to ruffle his hair. She didn’t.

 

“I did it! I’m the best!” Naruto shouted. Sakura rolled her eyes before winding up and punching him. Without chakra, of course.

 

“If you want to be Hokage, you’re going to have to be a little more humble, Naruto,” Sakura said in a warning voice. She was, of course, going to befriend Naruto and help him. She also was not going to sacrifice herself or their dynamic in the process.

 

“Ouuuuch, you hit hard,” Naruto whined, though his voice sounded admiring more than anything. He rubbed his cheek and got up before he began bouncing around again. Sakura hit him on the back of his head for good measure. He calmed down.

 

“Thanks for teaching me, Sakura-chan,” he finally thanked her and even gave a little head bow. Sakura sniffed but then gave in and ruffled his hair.

 

“Let’s go get some ramen, Naruto,” Sakura said invitingly. Inwardly, she hoped that this wouldn’t become a ritual. There was only so much ramen she could eat.

 

At the ramen stand, Teuchi smiled at the two young genin. In all his years there, seeing Naruto mistreated left and right, it was good to see him with a friend.

 

Teuchi sighed, the niggling feeling of guilt. He always had wished he could take in Naruto, but he had enough on his plate already. He had vowed, however, to always treat Naruto like a human being and above that as a good person. He tried to give him free ramen occasionally, though only occasionally because otherwise the yellow-haired brat would eat him out of house and home.

 

“Ramen’s on the house tonight!” Teuchi gleefully told the two. The girl politely thanked him and smiled, before continuing to work at her huge bowl of tonkotsu ramen. Naruto neatly tucked away his second bowl before handing it back for a third helping. He shook his head. Only occasionally.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sakura walked Naruto back to his apartment after they ate, reveling in the many startled and fearful stares the pair received throughout the walk. Sakura glared at all the negative attention, almost shielding Naruto from it who was consciously ignorant of it all. It had been too long like this.

 

When they arrived at the apartment, Naruto was very hesitant to invite Sakura in. Luckily, he didn’t have to, because she barged in to take in the mess.

 

“It’s a pigsty, Naruto,” Sakura announced, and Naruto’s heart dropped. He hoped that she wouldn’t stop being nice to him after seeing the filth.

 

There were empty cup ramen containers stacked high on the counters and his table. There were clothes strewn this way and that, and Naruto hastily tried to kick his underwear underneath his bed. His bed was unmade, with sheets and covers dropping off the side and a pillow on the floor. A dying plant in the window, dirty glasses in the sink, a poster lazily tossed to the side- not a single spot of the apartment was clear or clean.

 

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

 

This just wouldn’t do.

 

“We’re cleaning, Naruto,” she ordained, and he gulped. He really did like her, he did. She was cute and strong and now nice to him. She was also very, very intimidating.

 

So for the next three hours, they cleaned top to bottom the apartment. And then Sakura decided that it just wouldn’t do for him to have a pantry of nothing but cup ramen, so she dragged him over to the closing market and forced him to buy some vegetables, eggs, and meat to at least put in the cup ramen. And some rice, of course. What self respecting household didn’t have rice?

 

And of course, after that, she had to cook him a simple meal so he at least knew how to make something other than cup ramen to survive on. Not that she planned on leaving him alone all that much. In fact, Sakura thought sourly, she wasn’t going to let him subside on cup ramen much longer at all.

 

It was at the end of the day that she finally left, shutting down Naruto’s attempts to walk her home. She was tired, but in a good way. This was the beginning of change. She could feel it.

 

She could also feel that somehow, at the tender age of 12, she had become a sister of sorts. Sakura snorted. More like a mother.

 

Sakura dashed home. She drank a cup of tea with her parents and told them how the day went. Both were apprehensive at the idea of her befriending the jinchuuriki, but the more she said, the more they understood. Even they felt the slightest tinge of guilt as she raged about how everyone bullied and mistreated Naruto. But she bid them goodnight and slipped into her room, ready to rest. After all, they had a very important test the next day.

 

Sakura closed her eyes and Sakura rested.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Bells and Whistles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to skip end notes it's just me ranting. please enjoy the chapter.

There's really no way to describe a heart wrenching scream to someone who has never heard one before. There are all sorts of screams to match the description of heart wrenching, and every single person who has ever heard one will have the hearty misfortune of never being able to forget the sound.

 

There are heart wrenching screams of anger, throaty and dark and so loud they can turn calm skies of blue into searing reds.

 

There are heart wrenching screams of agony, of indescribable and unbearable pain, projected onto the world as a way to somehow pass the burden off.

 

There are heart wrenching screams of sadness, of deep, uncontrollable and inconsolable sorrow and loss. Those were always the worst, and the most common.

 

As a medic, Sakura was assigned to bear the brunt of these screams. There were too many casualties, too many deaths. So much death meant only heartbreak and hopelessness and Sakura bore witness to every single tear dropped, every desperate embrace, every heart wrenching scream. Every single one.

 

When she had been in the old timeline, it had taken ages for her to sleep. How can one sleep when the hands of the damned claw at her flesh in the dark? How can one sleep when the blood of enemies and allies alike saturate her dreams? How can one sleep when the voices of the dead throb in her mind?

 

Her will to survive got her through. She found ways to quiet her dreams. With a careful henge and a bit of money, she bought sleep tinctures and she studied those to make more. She wore herself out with training so that she was too exhausted to do much else but sleep when the night came. She told herself that she was a shinobi- a shinobi of Konoha. Shinobi did not show their feelings and did not show their weaknesses. Shinobi wouldn't let those weaknesses consume them.

 

Sakura was a shinobi.

 

This Sakura, however, was different. This Sakura was a newly 12-year-old girl, whose body wasn't trained to bottle up tears and hold back the grimaces and deep set lines of heartbreak. This Sakura woke up with gasps and tears when the screams came back to haunt her dreams.

Sakura took a deep breath, then exhaled. Shaky. She took another breath. Still shaky. Another. Sakura's lower lip wobbled and her tears turned from solitary droplets to streams down her childish face. What a weakling she was. She couldn't even hold her emotions in properly.

 

"Sakura, honey?" Mebuki rapped lightly at Sakura's door, before slowly pushing it open to see her preteen daughter weeping on her bed. Mebuki frowned in concern before striding over to wrap her daughter into a warm hug, just as she did the first night.

 

"Mom," Sakura rasped, reaching her arms out to grasp her mother tightly. Mebuki smiled fondly and ruffled her little girl's pink hair. Sakura just gripped tighter.

 

"Nightmare?" Mebuki kindly asked.

 

Sakura nodded.

 

The two spent the next half hour in an embrace, and Sakura had the deep seated feeling that everything would be alright.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Everything would most assuredly not be alright, Sakura thought to herself as she creaked into the bathroom. After her mother left, Sakura had tried to sleep a little more but to no avail. It was time to get up. And what a mistake that was.

 

Sakura's whole body felt sore. Pain flared up this way and that and her feet were cramping. She had pushed herself too far the past couple of days with training. It was entirely too reminiscent of how she felt in the old timeline once she started training, and even that wasn't as bad since she had been accustomed to pushing her body.

 

Sakura cursed her younger self for not taking being a ninja more seriously. Young or not, Sakura could have built some sort of muscle mass during her academy days. She was little but a wet noodle in this timeline.

 

Sakura groaned as she looked at herself in the mirror. There were dark bags from lack of sleep, little cuts and bruises that she hadn't bothered to heal since it'd be suspicious if she did, and she looked worn down and ragged. Sakura laughed, just a little bitter, remembering her old vanity. Of course she had more sense now, but that didn't mean she had completely disregarded how she looked.

 

Besides, a kunoichi should always maintain some sort of beauty if possible. There were too many missions and too many situations that called for some sort of eyelash batting. Sakura grimaced. It felt wrong and gross to think about sensuality and flirting when she was stuck in the body of a preteen. She looked so young. So innocent.

 

Sakura shook her head of these thoughts and climbed into her shower, turning it on as hot as she could. That was one of the many luxuries she had forgotten about. In the old timeline, when she was living out in the forest, of course she had no showerhead of any sort. The waterfall cleansed her sufficiently, but it was cold as ice and she had used that as a way to wake up in the morning and harden her resolve, not that it needed any hardening. Occasionally she'd put a bit of effort in and use a bit of chakra to heat her water, but it was always fleeting and she could never persuade herself to waste more chakra to make it truly warm.

 

Now, she stood under the barrage of hot water freely. She reached towards her shampoo, noting with a grimace that it was cherry blossom scented. Of course it was. All of her soaps and conditioners were the same and as a child she had thought it was pretty and alluring. Now she was more cautious and aware of all the tells. An enemy could sniff that out if they were good enough. She'd have to buy some unscented lotions and soaps.

 

She finished washing herself, greedily bathing just a few minutes more than necessary. She healed all the cuts and bruises that would be hidden by clothes. Nobody would notice those anyways and why suffer that little extra more if she didn't have to?

 

The familiarity of her healing jutsu was a comfort. Honestly, she was more than a little afraid that she wouldn't be able to remember or execute certain jutsus that she hadn't learned at this age. She still was slightly worried about some more of her A and S ranked jutsus. She'd definitely have to hold off on those unless an emergency sprung up and she one hundred percent should stay away from using clan secrets. The clans weren't dead and definitely would come after her should they find out that someone not their own was using their moves.

 

Sakura slathered a healthy amount of lotion over her body and swiped a lightly tinted chapstick over her lips before heading towards the dining room. Her mother and father had both left for work already but as always, there was breakfast laid out for her. Her parents were so wonderful. Sakura felt she hardly deserved them as she bit into her broiled fish and rice. She cheerfully gulped down her soup. Kakashi had said not to eat before hand, but Sakura wasn't about to waste a perfectly good breakfast. She'd be eating lunch that day anyways. She downed her cup of tea and then hopped off with a grin. Today was the day Kakashi would give them the bell challenge.

 

On the way to the meetup, which Kakashi would certainly be very, very late to, Sakura thought to herself what she'd allow herself to do and what not. A grown up or not, the desire to prove herself and show off never truly went away. As a kid, it was only amplified.

 

Sakura could just imagine stunned admiration on everyone's face if she were to just completely wipe the floor with Kakashi. With genjutsu and ninjutsu alone, she could wipe the floor with him probably. Well, maybe. It'd be difficult with his sharingan, but she still thought she could do it. If anything, she'd probably take him by so much surprise that it'd probably take him a second to fight back and she'd have a clear path to his bells.

 

It was almost with a lust that Sakura daydreamed about all the advanced techniques she could bring in and how much she would impress everyone and all the praise she'd get. She could see the surprised and impressed look on her teacher's face as he re-evaluated her and decided to train her the way she wish he had way back when.

 

She wanted so badly to just let loose with her abilities and do everything she could to show off to her teammates. But that wouldn't do.

 

It was really difficult, trying to be mature. Inner Sakura was a different sort of beast now. A prideful beast who thought she knew more than perhaps she did. But then again, she did know a lot now.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sakura had limited herself completely to low level jutsus and taijutsu. Her proficiency in ninjutsu would be enough to show there was more to her than just a weak, lovestruck girl and it'd be difficult for her to really change her taijutsu in any big way. Her body itself was weak anyways, so her taijutsu would be less effective and that should lessen suspicions in that court as well. Chakra manipulation was definitely an advanced tactic, but Sakura's chakra pools were limited anyways so she'd see in the moment.

 

She'd been fighting for a long time. One little bell battle would not be an issue. The problem was how she could do all this and not get a bell.

 

If she remembered correctly, Kakashi's entire test was focused on teamwork rather than individual skill. Even more correctly, she remembered that the battle itself mattered little and their fate had depended on sharing food.

 

Sakura had thought about what she could do. God, she wanted to just give them a little taste of her skill. Just a little. But she also wanted to pass and stay with both Sasuke and Naruto both. She needed to stick to the original timeline as much as possible for this test so she could guarantee further time and interactions with Sasuke, Naruto, and even Kakashi.

 

She had considered if it'd be enough if she grabbed both bells, then shared them with Naruto and Sasuke. Maybe if the three of them insisted that they stay together or that nobody gets dropped, then Kakashi would see they held true to his "no man stays behind" motto. Unfortunately, the problem with this was that Sakura had no idea if Naruto or Sasuke would be willing to defend the other's right to stay.

 

Another option would be to find a way to get both Sasuke and Naruto to work together initially and go against Kakashi, three against one. If she could find a way to orchestrate a plan of attack that took advantage of all three's abilities, then that would be ideal. Again, she remembered that upon the signal, all three had leapt away to fend for themselves. She couldn't be sure the other two would be open to working all together.

 

The third option was to let it happen the way it did in the original timeline. Let Sasuke get beat down a little as well as show off his raw talent, let Naruto show off his newfound clone jutsu, and let her get through the genjutsu and maybe show off a bit of taijutsu too. This would let all three impress upon Kakashi a general sense of their skill levels and fighting styles as well as let them end up at the post where Sakura was sure Naruto would be tied up.

 

This time, however, she would be the one to offer her lunch first. She wasn't the selfish, rule following and law abiding brat she once was. For as much as he neglected her teachings and her potential, he had instilled in her the most important rule of being a shinobi. No, the most important rule of all: never leave someone behind.

 

Sakura smiled to herself and flew through the trees.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The bell battle went nearly exactly as planned. Sakura was sure that Kakashi was at least intrigued and at most mildly suspicious of her. She had managed to hold back just enough and showed that she was definitely fluid with taijutsu, regardless of current body strength, stamina, and speed. She had also easily broken the genjutsu. Really, she had seen worse. Much worse.

Naruto ended up tied to the post and Kakashi instructed both her and Sasuke not to share their lunches with him before seemingly disappearing off. Sakura rolled her eyes fondly at Naruto for falling for such a blatant trap before holding out her lunch.

 

"Sakura-chan! You're not supposed to give me your food. You'll get in trouble," Naruto protested. Sakura felt a twinge somewhere in her heart for a Naruto in a different world. She had been so blind before.

 

"Don't worry about it. I can't sense him anywhere, and you need to keep up your energy," Sakura said, brushing off the blonde boy's concerns.

 

"Thanks, Sakura-chan! Let's eat!" Naruto crowed, before somehow getting an onigiri in his mouth to wolf down. After he had swallowed it, Sasuke jabbed Naruto in the stomach with his own lunchbox.

 

"Don't take all of her food, idiot. What did she just say about keeping up energy? She needs to eat too," Sasuke chided the other boy and Naruto pouted. Sakura inwardly let out a sigh of relief. She had been afraid that if she offered food first that Sasuke might not deem it necessary to share his as well and then they wouldn't get passed for teamwork and sharing and all that. Luckily, it seemed she needn't have worried.

 

Kakashi poofed in front of them. Sakura and Sasuke didn't even react, though Naruto immediately broke out into garbled surprise.

 

"You guys," Kakashi started to say, voice laced with threat and irritation.

 

"Fail!" Kakashi announced. Sasuke's face took on an intense glare and Naruto immediately began shouting in protest. Sakura had too many years of hiding her emotions, but she felt her heart drop because how could they have failed? What had changed? Nothing she did should have changed the outcome this much?

 

"Ah, just kidding. You all pass," Kakashi's eye crinkled into what Sakura recognized was his visual cue of a cheerful grin. The three genin comically slumped over in defeat. Sakura wanted to punch him.

 

"Sensei, why'd you have to say that? What do you mean? Do we really pass? What's going on?" Naruto demanded, shooting off question after question. Kakashi held up a hand to silence the boy, not that it worked.

"I just wanted to see my students' cute reactions," Kakashi started, bringing another round of shouts from Naruto and a sigh from Sakura. Of course, this was how her teacher was after all. She silently observed as Kakashi launched into his spiel about how those who broke rules were awful but those who left a teammate behind were the scum of the earth. The lecture seemed to leave a good impression on Naruto and Sasuke both, and Sakura was filled with warm, fuzzy feelings. She had missed this. She had missed this so much.

 

They weren't truly a team yet. They weren't anything close to a team, but Sakura hoped that the lunch sharing would be the first step to bringing them closer. It had been so difficult going from having friends and allies alike at every turn and then in a second, having no one. There had been no one to trust, no one to count in, no one to confide in. She had ate alone, trained alone, studied alone. Two whole years completely alone.

 

And now, she wasn't.

 

Everything was going to be alright.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Kakashi was, to say the least, surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless. Honestly, Kakashi could say he hadn't been this surprised in quite a while. As a shinobi, and quite a good and experienced one at that, he was always reasonably open minded about possibilities.

 

He knew that there were always unknown factors and there were always possibilities. He had to. In life or death situations, one would be a fool and nine feet under if he didn't consider possibilities. These possibilities could be one in a million, but even that was a chance. So Kakashi knew about possibilities.

 

That didn't mean he didn't have expectations and that didn't mean he was incapable of being surprised.

 

He had expected to have the most troublesome team of genin he'd ever seen and had definitely thought he'd get to mark down yet another failure into his student record book and face Iruka's wrath. He had expected the Hokage to smile in fond resignation and shake his head at him. He had expected his fellow jounin to jab him and laugh with him at the new batch of naive and foolish little genin.

 

He had not expected these three.

 

Uchiha Sasuke. Who hadn't heard that name? Of course Kakashi felt bad for the kid; it's a terrible thing for one's brother to up and murder the whole clan. Kakashi expected the boy to feel pain and to feel lonely. The thirst for vengeance wasn't particularly surprising either. Those were all to be expected, in fact, and Sasuke would probably have to be a sociopath or psychopath of some sort not to feel those emotions at the death of his entire family and childhood idol.

 

The boy was most likely used to useless and unwanted platitudes of sympathy. He probably received more than a pitying eye on the daily.

 

With all this in mind, Kakashi one hundred percent expected the sullen boy with a never ending glare and the haughty persona of the tragic prodigy. To be honest, Sasuke more or less rose to these expectations and Kakashi felt some sort of satisfaction that at least one of his previous thoughts was correct.

 

Uzumaki Naruto. Again, a boy whose name was known throughout the village. To the younger generation, the blonde boy was nothing but a pesky troublemaker- loud, obnoxious, and attention seeking. To the older generation, he was nothing but a symbol. A reminder. When people looked upon the young boy, they saw the death and destruction of a nine-tailed beast. They saw fires in its wake and pain that cut through the heart and into the soul.

 

Nobody saw a symbol of hope, of solution. Nobody saw a cure. Nobody saw the effort and sacrifice to save a village.

 

They saw only the Kyuubi.

 

Kakashi knew the basics of how the seal worked, and he knew that it worked exactly as it was supposed to. He knew that Naruto was his own person and that the nine tails was locked away deep inside. Instead of feared and rejected, Naruto should have been revered and treasured as the last and only memory of Minato.

 

Kakashi had thought time to time of Naruto and what had become of the boy. Every time that Kakashi saw him, he saw also the repulsed gazes of others around him. He saw the whispered insults, the not-so-whispered insults. He saw the boy curl in on himself and defiantly ignore or fight the accusations. Naruto didn't even know. He didn't even know.

 

Kakashi knew that if Minato were here to see what had become of his son and how the village treated him, he'd be immensely disappointed. He'd be disappointed in them all.

 

Still, it wasn't Kakashi's duty or job to take care of the brat. Of course he had felt a little guilty, but Kakashi reasoned that he really had no time to do so. Kakashi was the copy nin, after all. He had been young himself when the Kyuubi was sealed and as a jounin and ANBU, he had mission after mission to take care of.

 

Shinobi were always losing people and there were hundreds of orphans left from the nine tails attack. Naruto was just one of them. Naruto would be fine.

 

And he had been.

 

Naruto was brash and stubborn. He attacked head on and threw himself all in with as much energy and passion as the sun itself. He was loud and tried for the attention of anyone who would give it to him. He was stupid and childish, indignant and defiant in the way of someone who's used to being ignored and ridiculed. He wasn't weak hearted or unsure of himself. He was confident and had big dreams.

 

Kakashi hadn't been entirely sure how Naruto would be, and was satisfied to know that the boy seemed fine. Annoying, but fine.

 

Haruno Sakura. Of the three, Sakura had surprised him the most. He had never heard her name before she was assigned to his team. With Naruto doing the worst in the academy and Sasuke the best, it stood to reason that Sakura was somewhere in the middle. A steady ninja with little special abilities.

 

Reading over their academy reports, Kakashi had noted that Sakura was rather weak on taijutsu, a little more than mediocre in ninjutsu, and a possible, but small aptitude for genjutsu. It wasn't anything special and there were dozens of other ninja hopefuls who probably had the same results.

 

She didn't belong to a clan, and had no family secret jutsus or tricks to learn. Her parents had never made it past genin themselves either.

 

When Kakashi had first seen her from afar, he had seen shiny, scented, loose hair. He had seen a bright red dress, meant more for looks than function. He had seen her fawning over boys and picking flowers. He had seen nothing but a mere schoolgirl, more concerned with boys and her looks than improving herself.

 

When she had sat in front of him the first day the team officially met, he had been very, very surprised. She had tied her hair back and switched the dress for an outfit more fitting a shinobi. Her eyes had steel in them as well as the look of someone who'd suffered more than just a basic schooling at the academy. Her eyes spoke of experience and pain. Her body was fluid and she moved with all the grace of a full fledged kunoichi.

 

She moved so well and so confidently, it was hard to believe she could be merely a genin. Of course she could have trained in secret, but no little girl with that much ability and fluidity would have gone unnoticed so long. What had happened?

 

He was even more suspicious after his bell challenge. She had been good. More than. She was more than capable using low ranked jutsus, and he suspected her knowledge of ninjutsu ran much higher than she showed. The same went for her taijutsu. She moved like she had fought all her life and she wielded her body easily. He noticed that at times the moves didn’t seem to go as she planned, almost like she wasn’t used to her body. It was true that for all of her technique and grace, her body was still weak and low on stamina and he forced her to retreat relatively early on in their scuffle.

 

The most surprising was how easily she broke his genjutsu. She dispelled it like it was nothing, like she was waving a mere fly off. This spoke of a stable, sound, intelligent mind and a knowhow of genjutsu that ran farther than the academy ever taught.

 

So yes, Kakashi was suspicious. He wouldn’t say anything though. She wasn’t a threat and he could sense no lie in anything she said. For now he would pass them and carefully observe.

 

Team 7 was a surprise to say the least. Kakashi suspected there wouldn’t be a dull moment.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Unbelievably dull, Sakura grouched to herself as she uprooted another weed. She understood how the ranks worked and she understood why she had to do this. That didn’t mean she had to like it.

 

The weeds went on forever. Team 7’s mission was to clear some lady’s large vegetable garden and Sakura vehemently swore to herself that she’d never take gardening up as a hobby. She wasn’t sure how someone could let things get to this state. She pulled weed after weed, and each time she felt like new weeds immediately took their places. It was immensely frustrating and endlessly boring. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be in similar moods next to her.

 

Sakura tried not to feel above it all. When she had really, truly been a genin and beginning she had silently and dutifully completed all the long, arduous and completely domestic tasks. She had understood the order and reasons then, and she did now. And honestly, after the horrible first C-rank mission, she had been happy to go back to finding lost cats and washing dishes.

 

But she wasn’t the genin she had been in the old timeline.

 

It had been two years of running, fighting, training, and studying. She had fought a war. She had spent countless days and countless hours healing, teaching, and directing. She had learned under Tsunade of the Sannin and had managed a hospital on her own. She had gone days without sleep, attempting to bring back the near dead. She had fought her childhood love, meaning to kill and almost dying by his hand.

 

She wasn’t just a kid, new to the ninja life. She wasn’t made for pulling weeds.

 

And yet, here she was. Pulling weeds.

 

Sakura sighed. Pride would be her downfall in this new world of hers. Hubris would take her down faster than she could blink if she let it. Her 12-year-old body ached with the strain of the past few days and the sun bore down on her mercilessly. She smelled like sweat and dirt and she was pretty sure that anybody who looked at her would think she was little more than a field hand.

 

“I don’t care how my life ends up, I’m never becoming a gardener,” Sakura bit out. “I can’t believe people do this for a hobby.”

 

“Yeah, this sucks,” Naruto agreed, huffing as he attempted to pull five big weeds together. He succeeded in getting only the leafy bits while the roots stayed firmly in the ground. He groaned and reached for a trowel to begin digging them out.

 

The two of them looked at Sasuke, patiently waiting for him to chime in. Sasuke looked at the two’s expectant gazes, then the weeds. He grimaced.

 

“No more weeds,” Sasuke concurred. Sakura smiled and pulled a weed’s top part clean off, leaving the stubble of the remaining green poking up through the earth. Her nails were so dirty. Sakura refrained from punching the ground and resigned herself to another two hours of torture by plant.

 

Kakashi looked over the top of his Icha Icha to cheerfully observe his students. As Gai would say, it was the springtime of youth. And weeds. It was the springtime of youth and weeds. He should know, he was teaching three of them.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Sakura,” Sasuke called as Sakura turned to head home after a long day of D-ranks. The D-ranks were particularly unsatisfying because they meant that Sakura would have to train on the side if she were to ever raise her natural stamina and strength. Washing dishes and pulling up potatoes hardly provided a challenge for her muscles.

 

“What?” Sakura snapped without meaning to. Her cheeks colored as she hastily scrambled to apologize. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say- I’m just tired and grouchy.”

 

“Mm,” Sasuke acknowledged, and he surprisingly didn’t look that grumpy at it at all. Sakura still sighed and reproached herself. Years of self discipline and shinobi life and training hadn’t done much to temper her, well, temper.

 

“What’s up?” Sakura asked.

 

“You seem… Different,” Sasuke finally said. His face seemed a little red at the admission, like the boy didn’t want to admit that he had noticed anything about her or was thinking about her at all. It was cute and Sakura almost wanted to giggle. If she did, she would certainly chase off the Uchiha, so she stayed quiet and somber.

 

“How so?” Sakura questioned.

 

“Well, for one thing, you don’t,” Sasuke paused, even more embarrassed and uncomfortable. “You don’t fawn over me anymore.”

 

“I was under the impression you didn’t want me to,” Sakura carefully responded, though inwardly she was laughing at how awkward the boy in front of her seemed. She remembered how cool she thought he was, how much she liked him. She still liked him, of course, but it was different. It was difficult to truly fall back in love with a person who tried to kill her after all. Not that she was entirely blameless, but she was pretty sure that she had a little more room to talk than him.

 

“I don’t,” Sasuke said flatly. Sakura’s mouth twitched and she huffed a laugh and shook her head. Sasuke twitched and said nothing else. Sakura rolled her eyes.

 

“Do you want to train with me?” Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow. She could tell that Sasuke was gearing up to say no and she quickly added, “I was going to work on walking on water today.”

 

That piqued the lone Uchiha’s interest. Sakura knew she almost had him. She knew that he had seen her spar with Kakashi and that he had seen what she was capable of. She knew that while he didn’t like her, or anybody to be fair, she was more than a worthy sparring partner.

 

“I was also going to try a new ninjutsu today,” Sakura said off-handedly. The trick was to appear as if she didn’t care what he said. “So maybe we could spar a bit. Unless you’re scared, of course.”

 

That did it.

 

“Hnn,” Sasuke sneered. “Scared of you? Doubtful.”

 

“We’ll see,” Sakura said demurely, though inwardly she burst with a victorious joy. This was one of the first steps to change. She wasn’t sure how she’d be able to tell Sasuke about Itachi and what really happened that night of the massacre, but she sure wouldn’t be able to tell him if they weren’t friends of some sort.

 

And besides the point, she couldn’t wait to spar with him and finally, for once, put him in his place.

 

She was tired of being looked down on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sasuke and sakura's relationship is like the number one thing that's always pisse d me off aobut this stupid dumb ass manga jesus i fucking hate reading this shit (and also i love it so kms or something y'know)
> 
> SPOILERS BEWARE
> 
> can we takl about how sakura starts out as a vapid, vain little girl completely obsessed with him which is fine and whatever even though she's the one main female character we really have and she's like this which is kind of obnoxious but whatever at least there are strong female side characters
> 
> ANYWAYS that's all ok because she gets stronger throughout the series and grows more confident and finds a direction she wants to go in and then she's fuckin ready to throw down with sasuke tO THE DEATH alright?? 
> 
> it is around this point that childhood crushes should like, fade, btw just in case you're in the throes of childhood love passion rn. if you're fighting them to the possible death you might wanna re-evaluate your choices ok? 
> 
> ok so anyways, this is all howdy dowdy fine line mr cline but then they get married??!!??!??!! 
> 
> LMAO WTF
> 
> I'd even be ok with that if there had been literally any indication whatsoever. ANY INDICATION that he felt even a teensy weensy bit of affection for her in the way that one would if they planned on fucking marrying another and also if there had been some show of courting or some fucking apology like "hey sorry i've caused you a s hit ton of stress and trouble and also i tried to kill you and also i've broken your heart like a million times etc" but instead it's like 
> 
> oh, you thought the series would have a satisfying ending suitable to the characters and their arcs?
> 
> boy don't you love happy go lucky fairytale endings bc let's just shack EVERYONE up. you get a relationship, and you get a relationship, and you get a relationship!
> 
> Sakura goes from being a badass medic nin to being a fucking HOUSEWIFE with a kid basically named salad ok?? she supposedly surpasses tsunade or something in medic skill or knowhow i don't really remember the point is she's hella strong and then
> 
> BAM. housewife.
> 
> Sasuke doesn't even kiss her. Hell, he doesn't even touch her! He wouldn't even poke her on the forehead wtf wtfwtf before he left for a mission like jesus how did he manage to even get it up to have little salad-chan??
> 
> like, i'm totally fine shipping them if there's some sort of relationship development but wtf was that kishimoto not everyone has to get married. sasuke didn't even like her!!! this set up is bad for everyone!! uGHHHHHHH WHERE IS MY DEVELOPMENT?!? 
> 
>  
> 
> anyways, I'm done ranting. I hate this stupid manga and these dumb characters and all this dumb shit I can't believe I like this stuff so much. Enjoy the read. Hope you liked the latest chapter!
> 
> You can find me on tumblr: https://eevaeon.tumblr.com/


	3. The ABC's of Konoha

Sakura has always been a violent person, there’s no arguing this. She remembered savagely uprooting fistfuls of both flowers and weeds, dislodging dirt this way and that as she gracelessly attempted to arrange her mishmash flower assortment into something beautiful. She remembered yelling and growling and the itch to punch anything and everything that frustrated her. She remembered growing up and tempering herself, controlling her emotions until all that was left of violent Sakura was her inner thoughts and the occasional Naruto outlet. She remembered fake smiles and laughs as she seethed inwardly, trying her best to quell her rage.

 

But that was her younger days. Sakura also remembered her growth, her strength.

 

She remembered every time she stepped in front of someone else with the intent to protect. She remembered the longing she felt as she stared at the backs of her teammates, wishing she could stand on equal ground. She remembered countless hours spent with Tsunade, pouring her heart into medical ninjutsu and chakra control. She remembered every battle and every fight, losing so, so many until finally she won and then she won more and more until everyone around her whispered she could surpass Tsunade one day.

 

She remembered facing against Sasuke, resolved and ready.

 

And here she was again, fated to fight once more.

 

Of course, the circumstances were wildly different, and there was none of the desperation and determination from the fight of before. This time, she would win. She wouldn’t let loose, of course. Sasuke was already suspicious of her and Kakashi as well. And even if she were to let all out, she couldn’t risk frustrating or angering Sasuke too much.

 

What she needed was a fight to prove they were equal. She could even go above equal. She just needed his respect.

 

The bell challenge had showed a sliver of her skills, and she was sure that Sasuke knew she wasn’t the bumbling fangirl she had been days ago. But he didn’t know how different she truly was. He didn’t know that he was about to face a girl who’d lived through a war. A girl who had seen all of her friends die. A girl who had managed to stop a near immortal man from trapping the world in his dreams.

 

Sakura shivered with anticipation as the two faced off. She was ready.

 

Sasuke made the first move, running at her full speed. He threw three kunai at her straight off the bat, which Sakura easily dodged. There were at least a hundred things she could have done to end the fight right then, but Sakura needed to prolong it.

 

Sakura jumped into the bushes, then cloned herself, cursing her still small chakra reserves. Three, or even two clones would have been so much more impressive and useful but she needed to reserve her chakra. As it stood, she’d have to be satisfied with just the one, textbook perfect as it was. She sent her clone out to go and fight Sasuke while she stealthily hopped somewhere else, attempting to quickly conceal herself in the foliage. 

 

Sasuke wouldn’t be fooled by such a simple trick though, and after a thrown shuriken, he knew her true location. Of course, Sakura had already predicted that. She substituted herself with a log as he sent another wave of kunai at her. It only took a millisecond for him to readjust to look for her new location and once he found her in near tree, he ran at her. Sakura threw out her own set of kunai at him, one grazing his arm as he dodged the other two.

 

Sakura ran up the tree, easily holding herself to the bark with chakra. She rested on the second highest branch, looking down at him. She knew that he couldn’t walk up trees yet and jumping and acrobatics could only get him so far. She could almost taste Sasuke’s frustration and it was delicious. Maybe it wasn’t quite fair and maybe she should have felt some sort of shame for feeling so smug, but she couldn’t quite manage after all those years of seeing Sasuke’s smirk and being looked down on.

 

Sasuke was breathing heavily, and he threw a few shuriken at her. Seriously, how many weapons did he have on him, Sakura grumpily thought as she evaded those as well, letting them stick into the trunk. The shuriken were only a cover though, and Sasuke’s hands were already quickly moving into the snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, and tiger seals for his fireball jutsu. If he couldn’t come up to her, he’d force her to come down.

 

Sakura smirked before bringing her own hands up, quickly forming the hand seals necessary for her own, personalized C-rank barrier ninjutsu. The complete version was technically an S-rank ninjutsu from a clan that specialized in barriers. She had found their scrolls locked up and, of course, protected by barriers. They had been extremely advanced and dangerous. Of course, as the intelligent medic nin she was, Sakura managed to figure out how to dismantle the majority of them and heal the damage from the rest. She had studied the scrolls for days and days until she managed the simplest form of them. After that, it had been easy work to produce the more advanced versions and finally even alter them to fit her needs.

 

The complete version of the particular kekkai ninjutsu she used could cover her body like a second skin and repel up to two attacks of power even equal to Naruto’s shuriken rasengan. Of course she had neither the chakra nor the body strength to produce such a jutsu, so she used the second simplest version which could block a C-rank jutsu before dissipating into nothing. It was definitely enough to absorb Sasuke’s fireball.

 

Sakura would fondly look back on that moment to remember the look of utter shock on the young Uchiha’s face as his great fireball jutsu completely disappeared upon hitting her barrier. She took advantage of his surprise to start running down the tree, sending chakra to her feet to make her faster and faster. Sasuke had no time to even see Sakura rush him, let alone react. Sakura curled her hand into a tight fist and pulled it back, channeling just a smidgen of chakra into it and letting it release as she hit his face. She was used to putting a lot more power behind her punches, but again she was just a little girl who, until a week or two ago, was a dainty, pristine little thing more concerned with looks and boys than strength and ambition. Luckily, her chakra control was so good that it was easy to adjust the amount of chakra she sent to each body part. It wasn’t like she had chakra in spades anyways.

 

Sasuke had flown back and was now lying on the ground. Sakura stood and watched as he slowly got back onto his feet. Even exhausted and injured, Sasuke wasn’t going to give up. Of course, it wasn’t the kind of attitude that Naruto had. Not the determination and will of an optimistic, hopeful Hokage wannabe. This was the resolve of a revenger.

 

Sasuke shot at her, eyes hard with tenacity and mouth set in a tight line. He weaved at her and Sakura readied herself. She widened her stance and put her arms up to block or deflect the first blow. Sasuke seemed ready to turn to taijutsu, which was lucky for her since she was running low on chakra anyways.

 

Before, if they were ever to match up in taijutsu, Sasuke could definitely have killed her were he serious. While her body couldn’t match up to his in terms of muscle or years of actual, dedicated fitness training- she had the brains. She had educated herself on hundreds, possibly thousands of taijutsu techniques, forms, and patterns. She had the muscle memory of hours upon hours of katas and training battles. Granted, they were against herself, but at that time she was a lot more of an opponent than she was now.

 

Sakura didn’t have quite enough chakra to enhance much of her movement and had to resign herself to going without. Hopefully her skill would outweigh his brute force. He came at her and immediately went to strike at her with yet another kunai.

 

“What are you, a freaking bukijutsu specialist?” Sakura teasingly asked as she folded backwards to avoid getting hit. She fell back onto her hands and reached a leg out to to swipe at his legs, hoping to trip him. He easily jumped over it and brought his leg up to stomp at her, which she rolled away from before hopping onto her feet.

 

“Not a bad idea,” Sasuke panted before bringing his leg to kick at her head. She brought up an arm quickly and deflected it off its course, unbalancing Sasuke enough that she found an opening to strike at his stomach. In his efforts to evade the attack, he bounced backwards.

 

“I don’t remember you being able to fight like this,” Sasuke said, gritting his teeth. His body was beginning to feel tired. He’d have to finish this soon. Sakura was also getting to the starting point of exhaustion. She didn’t show it though. Bluffing the opponent was an important rule of fighting.

 

“Memory going sour so young, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura said, grinning a little as he rushed her again, this time to strike at her with his palm. This one, she couldn’t avoid. She inwardly groaned. She hadn’t really sparred with anyone since her arrival and she hadn’t been able to truly test her limits. The little bout with Kakashi hardly tested her at all since they didn’t have a full on fight. She had less chakra, stamina, strength- she had less everything than she thought.

 

Sasuke didn’t give her time to recover, falling into a familiar taijutsu pattern as he struck her again. At the last moment, Sakura managed to block the third strike and swung her leg up in a textbook perfect roundhouse kick, getting him on the side of his head. He hit the ground and immediately rolled back and flipped onto his feet shakily.

 

Sakura mustered up strength and this time she ran at him, pumping her last bits of chakra into her feet to jump into the air. Her feet hit him squarely in the face and he went down like a sack of rice. Sakura panted heavily as she looked at him, lying on the ground with a completely stunned expression and blood dripping everywhere. She couldn’t even maintain a steady smile because she felt so exhausted. Her body was screaming at her to stop and all she could do was stand there gasping for air. And then, she was on the ground. Sasuke had also summoned the last dregs of strength he could and grabbed her ankle and brought her down.

 

The two slumped on the ground together. Neither spoke for a good while. Only the birds chirping, the trees swaying, and their combined heavy breathing filled the air.

 

“You’re,” Sasuke paused. “You’re not that bad.”

 

“Gee thanks,” Sakura exhaled, but a small smile formed on her face. “You’re not awful either.”

 

Silence.

 

“I brought you down first though, so technically I win,” Sakura finally stated after she had gained back most of her lung capacity and could breathe normally. She heard a small growl next to her.

 

“He who laughs last laughs best. I incapacitated you at the end, so that’s a win for me,” Sasuke argued.

 

“Funny, I didn’t know you laughed at all,” Sakura quipped.

 

“Shut up,” was Sasuke’s only response. But despite his words, a smirk had formed on his face and he couldn’t be bothered to remove it.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


That night, Sasuke lied in his bed, thinking. Who was Haruno Sakura? What had changed?

 

God, he had dreaded being put on a team with her and Naruto so much. They were perhaps the worst people he could have imagined being put on a team with, other than possibly the annoying blonde girl.

 

Everything he had expected was nearly the complete opposite.

 

Sakura was the opposite.

 

Back in the academy, she had been a ditzy little girl with bright, ostentatious pink hair and clothes to match. She had fawned over him at every chance and bickered with the blonde girl over looks, his preferences for girls, etcetera. That was all he could remember of her, since she was remarkably unremarkable in the areas he was interested in- fighting.

 

He had skimmed over her during training exercises and training spars. Every single time she had been paired against someone in her own skill level which was not particularly high. Her taijutsu, quite frankly, sucked. Her ninjutsu was right to the rule, but she didn’t have the desire to learn any more than the books told her and she didn’t have any chakra or clan or anything to help her along really. She managed high grades because she could imagine the theory and was good at math and thinking. He remembered rudely thinking that her large forehead probably helped her in the thinking aspects of class.

 

She had been a young schoolgirl who moved exactly like one. Her katas were weak, and lacked real effort and energy. She was the type to give up during a fight or find a way to easily lose while still displaying the basic moves she was expected to know.

 

Then she had changed.

 

What happened?

 

Suddenly, they were on a team together and Haruno Sakura was so, so different. She was talking to Naruto, an idiot she had ignored for ages. It wasn’t even acknowledgement she gave him. She offered to train him in things that Sasuke didn’t even know Sakura was capable of doing.

 

Suddenly, she had ambition and a passion for bettering herself as a shinobi. Suddenly she moved differently, more smoothly. She stepped without sound and gracefully glided places like a real kunoichi.

 

The first big surprise had been the bell challenge. He hadn’t really expected to beat a jounin as he was, but he had expected to get a bell. He had expected he’d be the only one to come close to getting a bell. He was wrong.

 

Sakura came just as close as he did- no, closer. He had clearly seen her hand close over a bell during her scuffle with their instructor before he had forced her to back off. And now, after he had sparred with her for real, he knew it wasn’t a fluke.

 

His body ached and he was bruised everywhere she had made contact with. He couldn’t even believe such strength was possible. It was strange though. During certain times, her strength seemed nearly impossible and then other times she was just as strong as he had thought she was back in the academy. Ok, maybe a little stronger than that.

 

She had ran up the trees with complete ease, like she had been doing it for a lifetime. All of her attacks had confidence behind them and there wasn’t a single point in time that he thought she wasn’t putting in her all.

 

It was startling and strange and Sasuke had no idea what to think of it at all.

 

Still, it was the most fun he had gotten out of a fight in a long time. It was hard to admit that, but he could grudgingly concede that she was definitely equal with him. There weren’t many, if any, his age that were.

 

He was definitely suspicious, but he couldn’t sense any ulterior motives or ill will from her. If anything, Sasuke was just curious about how she managed to hide her talent so well for so long. Was it on purpose? Did she play the fool for so long for a reason? Had she been training in secret? But if she had, then why was her body still so anemic and fragile? Had she just read that many books? Was she a genius? A prodigy, like him?

 

This Haruno Sakura was different. Much, much different. This Sakura had her hair up in a practical, high ponytail that shortened the likelihood of someone using it against her. This Sakura wore equally practical clothing that allowed her to move freely, look unassuming, and let her blend in with a crowd without drawing unnecessary attention to herself. This Sakura moved like the water, constantly fluid and graceful.

 

This was a Sakura he could respect.

 

He would keep an eye on her. And maybe he would spar with her again. Maybe.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It was at the end of what felt like a million D-rank missions that Sasuke approached her. The three genin had spent the day prepping vegetables and fruit for a restaurant and then serving customers before finally cleaning up the whole place. Sakura had bitterly remarked that if a restaurant needed to put out an official mission request for three children to come and work that there was clearly something lacking in the staff and managerial department. Sasuke had agreed vehemently. He wanted to get stronger, not julienne carrots for four hours. Naruto had also chimed in his own frustration and the three had shared another moment of mutual distaste.

 

They seemed to be doing that a lot, Sasuke mused. There was a lot more agreement and shared looks and amicable conversation than he had ever thought possible. Sasuke found himself talking more and more with less and less derision and grumbling. He had even found himself smirking at a joke Naruto had made, horror or horrors.

 

He was changing too. For the better or worse, he didn't know.

 

Now he walked up to Sakura, who was scolding Naruto for something or the other. The girl may have done a 180 in some areas, but it was nice to see that some things didn’t change.

 

“Sakura,” Sasuke said, directing his two teammate’s attention to him.

 

“What?” Sakura asked, carefully flattening her tone to the same level of indifference he carried. Naruto looked between the two, completely clueless to what was going on.

 

“Don’t you dare be an asshole to Sakura,” Naruto injected, standing in front of his pink-haired friend. Sakura rolled her eyes and moved him away to resume the faceoff with the Uchiha. She stared at him. He stared back at her.

 

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked after almost fifteen long seconds of staring competition. Surprisingly, Sasuke blushed and looked off to the side. Naruto’s eyes widened as he took in the boy who looked more adolescent than he ever had and Sakura almost smiled at the display, though she held herself back since she didn’t want to scare him off.  

 

“I remember you saying something about walking on water,” Sasuke finally grunted, his gaze aggressively boring into a nearby tree.

 

“Oh my God, you’re asking Sakura for training lessons!” Naruto crowed gleefully. Sasuke scowled as his blush deepened.

 

“I’m just upholding my end of a deal,” Sakura smoothly said, attempting to soothe rumpled feathers. It worked to an extent and Sasuke snorted and shifted his weight.

 

“What deal?” Naruto asked. Sasuke and Sakura just smirked at each other. Naruto rolled his eyes and cried out in frustration. “Guys, what deal? Tell me!”

 

Sakura and Sasuke started towards the nearby river as Naruto trailed behind them, asking them about the deal.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Honestly, I told you guys to stop like two hours ago,” Sakura said with exasperation as she stared at the two boys sprawled out on the ground, panting heavily with exertion. The trees around were all marked up and there was water splashed everywhere. It was already nighttime and the trio had been there for hours.

 

She had already taught Naruto how to walk up trees, but that didn’t mean he had perfected it. The first time she taught him, he managed 15 feet at the very end. Watching him struggle to get to that point, let alone surpass it, Sakura guessed that he had only just made that branch the first time. He still had a long way to go in terms of being able to calmly walk up the tree and actually, truly control his chakra output. Right now he was still brute forcing his way up.

 

On the other hand, she could see Sasuke getting the hang of it. While Naruto may have had a head start in learning the concept, he struggled applying it whereas Sasuke was constantly assessing and going higher, bit by bit. It was lucky that they were so competitive because otherwise Sakura wasn’t sure she would have been able to keep their attention on tree climbing that long.

 

Once they had hit 30 feet or so, Sakura had finally directed their attention to the star of the show: the river. She hadn’t really planned on teaching water walking that fast, even if she had told Sasuke before their spar she would, and so she hadn’t thought out her plan of instruction that well. The river wasn’t particularly tumultuous, but it was still moving water. Had she planned ahead, she would have taught them on a pond or lake or maybe even hot springs if she had the money and they had the maturity. Unfortunately she had not thought it out that well and honestly hadn’t even expected them to reach 30 feet that day so the river it was.

 

The river was much, much more difficult than attempting to walk on still water. Sakura had watched for nearly two hours as the two boys fell time and time again into the cold water.

 

“How come you’re so good at this, huh?” Naruto had asked, frustrated. Sakura had only shrugged and gave him a small smile.

 

“Practice?” Sakura had offered. Naruto had huffed and attempted to shift his weight before collapsing into the river again. Sasuke had fared about as well.

 

Now the two were nearly worn out and completely drenched and lying on the dirt ground. Sakura sighed.

 

“Let’s clean up and get something to eat,” she said decisively, in a tone that left no room for argument. Naruto and Sasuke looked a little mulish, like they were planning on protesting anyways and insist that they could go on longer. Sakura rolled her eyes and added, “We can do more tomorrow. C’mon, I’ll treat.”

 

At that last part, Naruto grinned and stood up before offering his hand to the other boy. Sasuke glared at the hand, then sighed and reached out to grasp it. Sakura smiled to herself. Progress, progress.

 

“C’mon, I’ll race you! I bet I’ll win!” Naruto shouted once Sasuke was on his feet and shot off.

 

“You wish, loser! Not even a head start could help you!” Sasuke yelled after the blonde boy and quickly ran after him. Sakura stared at their retreating figures before groaning and taking off after the two’s retreating figures.

 

“You idiots don’t even know where we’re eating!” Sakura screeched.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“My eternal rival and one of Konoha’s best!”

 

Kakashi cringed and slowly looked around to see Gai striding up towards him, a twinkling grin plastered on his face. Kakashi slouched forwards and pinned his eye on the other jounin.

 

“Gai,” Kakashi greeted, waving a hand in a single motion. “Yo.”

 

“Yo! Yo, my good, longstanding friend! What are you up to this fine evening?” Gai asked jubilantly.

 

“I just left my team. We were doing missions all day,” Kakashi began, attempting to convey his tiredness and doneness to the green beast.

 

“Good, let us eat together!” Gai interrupted, grinning. Kakashi squinted. He wasn’t sure how Mr. Jumpsuit did it, but there was clearly a visible sparkle emanating from Gai’s smile. It was uncanny.

 

“Uh,” Kakashi articulated before Gai grabbed his arm and dragged him off to a nearby yakiniku restaurant.

 

“Come, my friend! We must nourish our bodies to stay hip and youthful!” Gai merrily exclaimed as he pulled the bobbling copy nin along into the establishment, drawing the attention of nearly everyone inside.

 

The two were seated quickly along with several praises from the waitress and platitudes of gratitude from various civilians. Kakashi sighed and resigned himself to an evening with Gai. He liked Gai, he did. They were, in fact, friends and Kakashi would never admit it out loud but he didn’t exactly mind the other jounin’s absurd challenges and even more ridiculous self-inflicted punishments. Still, he had to be in a certain mood to deal with the jovial man. Kakashi just wanted to buy something quick to eat and go home and sleep before dealing with his strange genin team.

 

“How is your genin team going?” Gai asked, starting the conversation. Sometimes Kakashi wondered if the other man could read minds.

 

“Maa, they’re fine,” Kakashi drawled. “And yours?”

 

“Come now, Kakashi! Give me some details! You’ve got the lone Uchiha and Naruto! They’ve got to be very interesting!” Gai asserted.

 

“Well, truth be told it’s not them who are interesting,” Kakashi responded.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Well, not the most interesting,” Kakashi amended. He had to give the two boys some credit. They definitely provided entertainment and there were quirks to both.

 

“Pray tell, who is the most interesting?” Gai asked interestedly.

 

“Yes, do tell, do tell,” a new voice chimed in and Kakashi looked up to see Genma slide into the booth next to Gai. The brown-haired tokubetsu jounin slung his arm over Gai’s shoulders and leaned in with a smirk on his face, senbon moving up slightly with the mouth movement.

 

“Genma!” Gai cried out with delight. “Kakashi here was just telling me about his wonderful, youthful genin team!”

 

“Ooh, fascinating,” Genma said in an affected tone before signaling for drinks.

 

“What’s this, a party?” Anko purred out as she arrived, pushing Genma and Gai further into the booth with her body as she slid in. She waved a hand to beckon to someone and the three men turned to see Umino Iruka walk in. Iruka nodded hello and sat next to Kakashi, trapping him into the booth cheerfully. Kakashi supposed that it was in return for all his sloppy paperwork he turned in.

 

“Kakashi here was just about to tell us all about how much he adores his little genins,” Genma explained amusedly. Kakashi sighed. He really, really should have seen this coming the minute he set foot in Yakiniku Q, also known as the most popular shinobi eatery in the village.

 

“Oh, are we talking about our brats?” Kurenai’s voice rang out as she sat next to Iruka, who smiled at her. And, as expected, Asuma ducked into the restaurant, spotted the six and headed over to slide into the last available spot that was conveniently next to Kurenai.

 

Kakashi looked around him, completely surrounded by his nosy comrades and sighed again. With all this sighing, he was bound to turn into an old man soon. It was going to be a long night.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“What? He did what? I don’t believe it!” Anko cried, eyes misty from tears of laughter.

 

“I swear he did. If I wasn’t there, he might have almost taken a scroll with instructions on how to properly feed all of his family’s dogs to the Hokage instead of the actual mission scroll,” Kurenai insisted, cackling as she reached for her sake bottle. Kakashi watched out of the corner of his eye as Asuma carefully switched it out with a small little cup of water instead.

 

“Hah! He did that in the academy too once. I asked for their homework and he- he hands me a scroll that his mother wrote on walking Akamaru!” Iruka chimed in, laughing along with the rest of the crowd.

 

“C’mon Kakashi, you’ve got to tell us about your team at some point. They’ve probably gotten up to a lot of trouble. You’ve got the fox boy, eh?” Anko questioned, eyes alight with curiosity.

 

“Yeah, yeah, tell us about him! Any incidents? God, remember when he painted all the hokage’s faces on the mountain?” Genma chuckled, remembering the marked up stone. In front of him, Iruka hung his head and sighed.

 

“Don’t remind me of that time, Genma,” Iruka groaned. “God, and it was the worst possible day for him to do that too! It’s a mercy our Hokage is as forgiving as he is.”

 

“Oh yeah, you and Naruto are tight! You’re like his father, right?” Asuma asked.

 

“Such a noble figure at such a young age! If only all of our shinobi could be as generous and good!” Gai shouted, pounding his fist on the table with passion as Iruka colored on the other side of the table.

 

“I’m not really that for him. More like a brother. I’m young. Young!” Iruka protested.

 

“Yes, you are very young. Full of life and youthful vigor,” Gai nodded seriously. Anko burst out in a new fit of laughter.

 

“Youthful vigor!” Anko cackled and Kurenai and Genma snickered with her. Children, all of them, Kakashi thought, wanting to bang his head on the table.

 

“You lot are worse than my students,” Iruka snorted, echoing Kakashi’s thoughts. Still, even as the teacher said that, he dizzily slumped over into Kakashi, a warm presence. Kakashi looked down at the chuunin, whose face was flushed both from embarrassment and booze. Kakashi mimicked Asuma’s earlier actions and replaced Iruka’s cup of sake with a cup of water.

 

“C’mon, c’mon, back to the topic at hand. Tell us about your team, Kakashi. Wasn’t that why we all gathered in the first place?” Asuma asked, eyes full of lazy humor.

 

“You all gathered here because you’re all nosy gossips. Worse than housewives,” Kakashi muttered, garnering eye rolls from nearly everyone at the table.

 

“Just as bad as a nosy house husband,” Anko sniffed and Kakashi tilted his head in acknowledgement.

 

“Oh stop avoiding the question, Kakashi. Tell us how your team is doing. How is Naruto?” Iruka slurred out and Kakashi looked at the chuunin to see a full on pout.

 

“Haven’t you met up with him for a brotherly ramen bonding session recently?” Kakashi asked.

 

“No, the days I’m free he’s been training with Haruno Sakura,” Iruka explained sorrowfully, swishing his cup of water around before taking a sip.

 

“Sakura?” Genma asked.

 

“One of my little academy genin. I didn’t even know she liked to train or liked anything to do with shinobi life other than Sasuke,” Iruka lamented.

 

“She’s changed quite a bit,” Kakashi agreed.

 

“How do you mean?” Gai asked curiously.

 

“Well, Iruka here knows what she was like before best,” Kakashi foisted the responsibility of talking onto the tipsy academy teacher.

 

“Well, you know. She’s like a lot of other little schoolgirls. She’s a very cute girl and she’s got, uh. She’s got pink hair, y’know?” Iruka stuttered, concentrating on his words. “Very obsessed with the little Uchiha boy and she’s got a rivalry with the blonde one. Ino! She’s got a rivalry with Ino. She just doesn’t really care about being a shinobi that much, is what I suspect.”

 

“That’s true, Ino gets fired up if her name or Sasuke’s is so much as mentioned,” Asuma added.

 

“Ah yeah, you’re the instructor for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. You would know,” Iruka nodded sagely.

 

“Alright, well how is she now?” Kurenai asked inquisitively.

 

“Well, she’s definitely not obsessed with our local dark horse,” Kakashi said. “And our dark horse isn’t all that dark of late either. And Naruto isn’t particularly prone to painting the mountains that much lately either. In fact, all three are kind of weird and different from their academy reports. Now, Iruka-sensei, what’s with that? I feel lied to.”

 

“Shut up, you irresponsible pest,” Iruka shot back with good humor.

 

“Sakura is the biggest change of all though. She’s a lot more- how should I say this? She’s stronger. In more ways than one,” Kakashi finally evaluated.

 

And as if on cue, three very, very familiar children entered Yakiniku Q. Kakashi caught their eye and waved.

 

“Yo,” he called out.

 

“Hi Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura cheerfully responded. The entire table of shinobi watched as the cute pink-haired girl lightly pushed the other two boys forward. The jounin and the chuunin were all surprised to see that neither boy argued or protested in any way whatsoever. Taking in the three’s appearance even further, they could all see the scrapes and bruises on both boys and the general air of exhaustion surrounding the two.

 

“What’re you guys still doing together this late?” Iruka demanded. The others at the table hid a smile at Iruka’s teacher and parental tendencies.

 

“We were training! Sakura was teaching us to walk on water!” Naruto excitedly told them, much to the surprise of everyone there. “Though she wouldn’t let us until we got to the fourth branch of the trees.”

 

“Hmph, I got to the fifth branch,” Sasuke scoffed.

 

“Idiots, the branches were at the same height,” Sakura said, bringing fists down on both of their heads. The second great surprise was seeing both boys pout, yet still not say anything to her.

 

“They’re boys and they’re stupid so they trained for way longer than they should have so I told them I’d treat them to food,” Sakura explained after she sent them to grab a table. In the background they all heard a protest at her words, but the genin in front of them cheerfully ignored it before going off to join her team. None of them missed how she moved with all the confidence and grace of a tiger.

 

“You’re teaching them chakra control?” Iruka asked Kakashi.

 

“Maa, don’t look at me sensei. I haven’t taught them anything!” Kakashi held his hands up in mock defense.

 

“Is that something to be proud of?” Genma chuckled.

 

“Well, they’re so young that I have them mostly training their endurance and strength,” Kakashi shrugged. “What good is a jutsu if you don’t have the body to wield it?”

 

“You are ever so intelligent and insightful, my hip rival!” Gai approved loudly.

 

“So are you telling me that the little girl is not only proficient in tree and water walking, but she’s also teaching the other two? And the other two are letting her?” Kurenai asked. Kakashi shrugged again. It wasn’t like he had known about it either.

 

“I wish my team had that motivation,” Asuma said regretfully, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure I have the laziest team in the village.”

 

“I didn’t even know my team had that motivation. All they do is grumble during their D-ranks,” Kakashi said.

 

“Well, they’re D-ranks,” Anko said in a manner that very much implied a “Well, duh?”

 

“They’re an important part of a shinobi’s path,” Kakashi said. The table looked at him with a collective stare of disbelief and judgment.

 

“Kakashi, how many D-ranks have you ever actually done as a genin?” Genma finally asked.

 

“A lot,” Kakashi said defensively. “A few.”

 

They stared at him.

 

“At least a couple,” Kakashi said weakly.

 

More staring.

 

Kakashi fidgeted.

 

“You have to eat your vegetables, you dumbass!” Sakura’s feminine voice shrieked out into the silence, breaking the group’s concentration.

 

“She’s a feisty one. I like that,” Anko said, laughing. The others shuddered. No child, prodigy or special or whatever should be let near Anko. People in general shouldn’t be let near her, to be honest.

 

“Aww forget about the genin brats, we’re hardly all together like this. Let’s talk about something else!” Genma said.

 

“You say that only because you’re not a teacher yourself. You wouldn’t understand. They take over your life,” Asuma gravely told him.

 

“In the best ways possible! I feel a thousand times more sprightly and energetic in the presence of my talented, youthful wards!” Gai interjected, causing eye rolls around the table.

 

“Nobody would let Genma become a teacher! He’d never pass anyone!” Iruka cried out gleefully.

 

“Well, Kakashi passed his brats, didn’t he? And he hadn’t passed anyone before then either!” Genma playfully argued.

 

“Sure, but you’re not Kakashi,” Kurenai shot back and the table dissolved into conversation which dulled into a background buzz in Kakashi’s head as he casually shifted his gaze to look at his three genin a few booths away.

 

Wonder of wonders, all three of them were smiling.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i suck at writing battle scenes
> 
> also thanks everyone for all your kind words!! I really appreciate all your comments. They're very motivating. 
> 
> oh also if you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, please tell me!! I write everything either on my phone or my tablet switching out and i get autocorrected to hell and back half the time so if you see anything where you're like "what a fucking dumbass did they ever take a single english class" just let me know!
> 
> Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. 
> 
> also all y'all can ask me about the future of this story all you want but i'm not saying a word you're just going to have to keep reading :p


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope, it's still going. Had to take a break because of work and school and personal stuff but I'm back! Here's another chapter. I hope you like it!

“Alright, that’s all. I’ll see you all here tomorrow at the same time,” Kakashi dismissed them. The three children were hunched over, panting and heaving after the rough training day. Kakashi had gone harder on them that day, forcing them to spend every last vestige of stamina they possessed. Sakura had thought that she had been doing a relatively good job training her stamina and muscles up to that point. Clearly, she had a long way to go before she was anything nearing who she was before.

 

“Goodbye, sensei,” Sakura murmured. Relief and something else filled her chest as she watched him walk away. Kakashi would never stop being such a strong presence. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to stop her warring emotions for the enigmatic man. She was so frustrated with him. So angry. Of course it wasn’t his fault that she had ever been stuck on Team 7. But after all the bureaucracy? After all the paperwork and decisions made by higher up politicians who could see only numbers and nothing else? That was all Kakashi. 

 

It was Kakashi that dismissed her as nothing other than a love crazy girl who couldn’t do much else. It was Kakashi who had sent her to sit back while the boys furthered their training. It was Kakashi who found ways to give Sasuke and Naruto competitive edges, yet had nothing for a small, pink-haired girl.

 

Sakura was furious and yet- and yet she still craved her sensei’s attention. She could remember when he fought her and Naruto after he came back from his training with Jiraiya. She could remember the look of shocked respect he had worn and she remembered the utter victory she felt. She wanted to childishly smirk and go, “See, Kakashi-sensei? Look what you could have made me. Look at my potential.” 

 

It was immature, of course, but what student didn’t want recognition from their teachers? Would it have killed Kakashi to send even one jutsu her way? Would it have been such a bother to give a suggestion here and there? An offer to train her solo? Just once? 

 

What had been wrong with her? It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t been born to any interesting clans with any interesting special abilities. It wasn’t her fault that she had been born with outrageous pink hair. It wasn’t her fault that she was a young girl who was just growing into her body. It wasn’t her fault. 

 

She knew why he paid attention to them, how could she not? Could she blame the man for acting practically? Could she blame anyone for focusing on the prodigy and the jinchuriki? She knew why, she knew the reasons. It made sense. They had so much power, they needed more guidance than a no name like her. But they hadn’t survived. She had. Haruno Sakura had survived and nobody else.

 

“Sakura-chan, are you alright?”

 

Sakura looked up to see Naruto staring at her with concern. She quickly gave him a bright smile. 

 

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted after training! I don’t have as much natural stamina as you, after all!” Sakura chuckled and hit him lightly on the shoulder. It was true, training had been more difficult than usual. It was good, though. She needed to push herself. It was tough wanting to do so much and yet being stuck in the weak body of a child who only ever did slightly more than the bare minimum. 

 

“Does that mean we’re not going to train more?” Naruto pouted and Sakura wanted to laugh at his sudden sullenness. It was a bittersweet feeling, knowing that for all of her years of experience that now aided her, Naruto could probably easily surpass her given enough time. That would be alright though. This time, Sakura was determined that he would get that time.

 

“Not today, idiot. I’m meeting with Ino,” Sakura told him apologetically, and before she could think twice she put two fingers to his forehead. Just as soon as they touched his skin, she immediately drew them back and laughed nervously. She tried her best not to look around at Sasuke, that would just be too obvious. She wasn’t positive, but she thought she felt the heavy stare of Sasuke on her back. She ignored it. 

 

“Whaaaat? I thought you hated her!” Naruto protested. Sakura laughed, with more truth in it this time. 

 

“You wouldn’t understand, dummy,” she sniffed condescendingly, but her face gave away her fondness. It was true that at one time, she had thought she hated Ino. But, after all that happened, Sakura wasn’t going to lose any more friends. 

 

To even think about hating any of her friends was ludicrous. After all they had been through together, it was impossible. It didn’t matter that suddenly Sakura had travelled back in time and that all of her previous comrades were now much younger and had never experienced what Sakura had. It didn’t matter. And in Ino’s case especially-  Sakura wasn’t going to waste any more time. There were too many years of foolish pride and toxic competition between her and her first and best friend. She needed Ino. 

 

“Ok well, have fun, Sakura-chan! I’m gonna walk a thousand trees today and when we train tomorrow I’ll be able to walk up a million feet! Believe it!” Naruto shouted loudly, grinning with confidence and boyish exuberance. Sakura glared at the blonde. Some things never changed.

 

“Don’t say stupid things! Don’t you dare train that hard, you dumbass!” Sakura yelled back, bringing a fist with no power to knock him onto the ground. She turned away and started walking towards town. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Sasuke-kun, keep an eye on this fool. Make sure he doesn’t wear himself out. And you as well.”

 

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other. Sasuke smirked at the blonde boy on the ground before holding out a hand to help him up. 

 

“Heh. Moron,” Sasuke sneered after he helped his teammate back onto his feet.

 

“What did you just say, you jerk? I’ll show you who’s a moron!”

 

“Ow, you dunce! Get back here!”

 

Sakura only shook her head fondly and jumped up to the roofs to go see Ino.

 

From below, Kakashi watched. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Sakura stared at the girl across from her, trying to rein in her utter admiration and affection. Before everything had gone to shit, Ino had been a valuable asset and important ally in the war. She had worn herself thin with investigations,  interrogations, scouting, and more. When her father had died, Ino had been forced to take his mantle and she had done so with a steel determination. Sakura would never forget the proud tears, the hours of tireless work. Ino might not be that woman yet, but Sakura was determined to watch her grow into herself this time. 

 

“So, what’s up?” Ino hesitantly asked. Her caution made sense. Sakura and her weren’t exactly on friendly terms during this period of time. Sakura wasn’t worried. They were only twelve and preteen’s emotions weren’t exactly set in stone. 

 

“Mm, you know. Just a lot of training. How’s your team going?” Sakura asked, as casual as could be. She leaned back against Ino’s bed, admiring her friend’s clean and tidy room, adorned with various flower arrangements and splashes of color here and there. It was nice. Everything about Ino was nice, Sakura noted as she watched Ino carefully tuck a long strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

 

“It’s going well. Shikamaru is lazy as ever though and all Choji does is eat. I think we’re uh, getting better together though,” Ino admitted at the end, blushing a little. 

 

“That’s nice. You’ve known them for a while, haven’t you?”

 

“Yeah, our parents were on a team together too so it was kind of a given we’d end up together. Our grandparents too. Probably our great grandparents as well,” Ino muttered, shifting a little as she glanced around. Sakura supposed that the blonde didn’t really know how to interact with her when they weren’t fighting over petty things. That would change with time.

 

“A legacy team. That’s kind of nice,” Sakura remarked, completely genuine. Ino looked over at her and Sakura continued on. 

 

“I mean, you guys have known each other so long and your families have known each other so long that you guys are kind of destined to work well together, you know? That’s nice. You’ll always have each others’ backs and you don’t have to worry about team bonding the way that some other teams do,” Sakura tried to explain. She wasn’t sure how good a job she had done.

 

“Mm, I suppose so,” Ino conceded. “So what about you, forehead? How’s your team going? How’s it going with… Sasuke-kun?

 

Out of her peripheral vision, Sakura could tell Ino was blushing and glaring at the floor, picking at nothing. Sakura wanted to tell her to stop focusing on Sasuke. She wanted to tell her that boys didn’t matter, that they mattered. She wanted to tell her that Sasuke wasn’t worth it, to not think about him.

 

“Eh, it’s going well. We’re all just trying to improve. Sasuke-kun and Naruto are starting to get along better, so that’s good. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll be as cohesive a team as you Ino-Shika-Cho people,” Sakura lightheartedly said, carefully avoiding saying anything overly personal and definitely avoiding making any specific remarks about Sasuke. Ino frowned.

 

“Cohesive? No wonder your forehead is always so large,” Ino muttered, slyly glancing at Sakura. She was trying to start something, Sakura realized. But Sakura wouldn’t take the bait.

 

“Thanks, pig,” Sakura shot back with a small smile. Ino huffed and looked away. Victory.

 

Silence. Then, a knock at the door.

 

“Girls, do you want some food? Mother made yakisoba. It’s delicious, she fried some pork too,” Inoichi popped his head in and Sakura’s heart twinged as Ino’s eyes brightened at her father’s appearance. 

 

“Daaad, I’m on a diet!” Ino complained. A beat. Ino’s stomach growled.

 

“Yakisoba sounds wonderful, Yamanaka-san,” Sakura said politely, standing up in the wake of Ino’s mortification.

 

“Now Sakura, don’t call me that, it makes me sound old. You used to come over so often when you and Ino were in the academy,” Inoichi lightly scolded, teasing, before disappearing to go downstairs. 

 

“You don’t need to lose weight at all, Ino pig,” Sakura said. 

 

“Yeah?” Ino shot Sakura a suspicious look. She was waiting for the insult, the follow up comment. 

 

“Well, you’re already gorgeous. We’re so young anyways. We probably train way more than kids should,” Sakura explained. “There’s nobody around worth impressing anyways. Unless you’re losing weight for yourself, in which case go ahead. But you don’t need to at all. You’re very slender.” 

 

Ino gaped at Sakura. 

 

“T-Thanks. I’ll think about it,” Ino said, surprised at Sakura’s words. Sakura made to go downstairs but Ino stopped her with a hand.

 

“Sakura, you’ve changed. I don’t know what it is, but you seem much more...,” Ino trailed off and Sakura almost lost her composure. It was hard not to giggle when Sakura was certain Ino wanted to say mature or adultlike or something along those lines and just didn’t want to admit it. Sakura waited. 

 

“You seem more confident. It’s not a bad look,” Ino finally finished, glaring off to the side. 

 

“Thanks Ino-chan. You’re not looking too bad yourself,” Sakura responded, smiling a little. 

 

“But don’t think for a second I’m going to lose to you,” Ino boldly said, staring into her eyes with all of the determination and stubbornness of the kunoichi Sakura had left behind. A mean, prideful part of Sakura- reminiscent of Inner Sakura- reared its ugly head and Sakura almost smirked. There was such a difference in years and experience that Sakura wasn’t sure Ino could truly ever be a threat to her. But Sakura couldn’t, wouldn’t do Ino the disservice. Sakura still respected her friend and if a rivalry was what Ino needed to grow, then Sakura could try her damn best to provide that. This time, she hoped they’d be friends as well along the way. 

 

“I won’t lose to you either,” Sakura answered, just as seriously. They stared at each other, appraising, before Ino finally cracked a smile and turned towards the stairs. 

 

“Well, let’s go eat then.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Look, Sakura-chan! I did it! Look!” Naruto shouted gleefully. Sakura looked up to see him happily wiggling around on top of a tree branch 30 or 40 feet up. Sakura chuckled at the sight of the blonde boy and walked closer to the tree.

 

“You’ve gotten that high before, Naruto. Try something a little more impressive,” Sakura goaded, placing her hands on her hips in a dramatic display of smugness. It was fun being young again. She could be as exaggerated as she wanted and her childish behaviour and mannerisms would just be excused with her age. It was refreshing. If she pretended hard enough, she could almost believe she had retained some semblance of innocence.

 

“No, no, Sakura-chan! I didn’t have to run! I walked up it, just like you can! I didn’t need any head start or anything! Look!” Naruto tried to calmly saunter down the tree, but halfway through he lost control on his chakra only slightly and tumbled down to land right at Sakura’s feet. She huffed and stared at him fondly. What a mess. 

 

“Ok, that was just one mishap! But I really did! I got it!” Naruto pointed at her, grinning and daring her to argue. Sakura just shook her head and smiled at him.

 

“You want some food? You must have been training early,” Sakura asked indulgently. It was hard to fight the urge to spoil Naruto when she had the opportunity.  

 

Maybe it was because now she could fully understand the hardships he endured at this age and she finally could do something about them. Maybe it was because he looked much younger than the self she left in her past life and her maternal tendencies were finally starting to emerge. Whatever the case, Sakura was determined to fully appreciate her friends this time around. 

 

“Yes, please! Sakura-chan, you’re the best!” Naruto punched his fist in the air, in typical, excessive Naruto fashion.

 

“Why don’t you go round Sasuke up and see if he wants to come too? We can have a team breakfast,” Sakura suggested, though her menacing aura shone through her sweet smile and Naruto gulped at the thinly veiled command. 

 

“Okay fine,” Naruto acquiesced, drooping away to go find the young Uchiha. Sakura stared at the large tree Naruto climbed. It really was impressive he could get so high with so little training and time. She would be a great jounin teacher. A great one. 

 

“A team breakfast and your dear teacher isn’t invited?” Kakashi drawled seemingly out of nowhere. No training could help her and she jumped in surprise before swiveling around to see Kakashi leaning over, eye crinkled in his trademark “I am smiling right now” look. It was frightening. Really. 

 

“Ahhh, sensei! Good morning!” Sakura bowed her head quickly in respect, pasting on a strained smile. 

 

“Sakura-chan, you’re going to wear yourself and the boys thin with all this extra training!” Kakashi exclaimed.

 

Sakura didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure what she was expected to say in this sort of situation. 

 

“I’d like to speak with you for a second,” Kakashi told her, more serious than before. Sakura could only nod. Naruto and Sasuke were in sight, grumbling and pushing at each other.

 

“You guys go on ahead! We’ll catch up,” Kakashi waved them onwards. 

 

“You’re coming too, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto shouted back, boisterous joy before Sasuke cuffed him on the back of the head and they resumed play fighting. 

 

Sakura breathed in and squared herself for whatever Kakashi was about to say. 

 

“What’s going on, Sakura?” Kakashi asked once the boys were well and truly out of earshot. 

 

“I don’t know what you mean, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura carefully answered. 

 

“Mm, you seem… Different,” Kakashi noted. 

 

“People change, sensei,” Sakura quipped lightly. Maybe if she kept it lighthearted and casual enough, he wouldn’t push too much. 

 

“So much?” 

 

“I don’t think I’ve changed much, sensei.”

 

“Sakura,” Kakashi said, voice deliberate and firm. Sakura shifted uncomfortably. All the years in the world wouldn’t make it easier to face her teacher and lie straight on.

 

Sakura stayed silent. She shifted some more. 

 

A cricket.

 

She looked off to the side. She was sure Kakashi knew. She was absolutely certain he knew something was up. She was really a terrible actor. Simply terrible. 

 

“Sakura,” Kakashi said again. His voice wasn’t really gentle but it was something in the same field and it wrenched at Sakura’s heart. 

 

She remembered it like it was yesterday. She remembered.

 

She remembered losing her first teacher, her first look at a real ninja. He had been forefront in the fighting. If he wasn’t in battle, Sakura was healing him before he was rushing back off to take care of his duties. Kakashi always had his falls here and there, but he always got back up. And then he hadn’t. And Sakura had tried and tried and tried and she had screamed and grabbed his lifeless body, pumping chakra into a corpse. She had begged with the gods, begged her ancestors, begged everyone around her and the earth and the sky itself but her teacher had just lied there beneath her shaking hands. 

 

She could see it now. His lifeless eyes, dulled and glassy and unseeing. Her pale hands were cold and clammy but his blood burned through her skin like searing iron. She could still feel it. She could still feel it. She could still feel it. 

 

Blood had never been so red, so stark. It was the only color she could see, the only thing that stood out against the stark grey skies and his greying skin and the grey gloom on everyone's’ faces. They hadn’t expected it either. It was a great loss. That’s what everyone had said, murmuring prayers and memories and well wishes of respect. And Sakura couldn’t say anything.

 

It was indeed a great loss, and it had been her first one.

 

Sakura had hardened after more and more of her friends- no, her family- was taken from her. She grew used to the feeling of not enough. She finally could sleep a whole night of terror, remembering warm blood spurting over her hands and organs pulsating underneath her delicate fingers. None of that used to bother her when she was a cocky medic, straight from Tsunade’s legacy. She had taken pride in her toughness, at finally standing her ground and keeping a straight face. After Kakashi’s death, she could only think about how she couldn’t save him. Who could she save? 

 

“Sakura,” Kakashi’s voice shocked her like a bucket of ice cold water. He was staring at her with a carefully blank expression. Sakura could see past it. He was worried.

 

“Sorry, sensei, I spaced out,” Sakura muttered. She just wanted this conversation over.

 

“Sakura, are you alright?” Kakashi asked, ever so cautious. He was afraid she would cry, Sakura guessed. Well, she wouldn’t. She had shed enough tears.

 

“I’m alright,” she murmured. Kakashi stared at her. She stared back. He sighed. Victory.

 

“Maa, alright. I won’t push, Sakura-chan, but I have my eye out,” Kakashi pat her on the head. “You’re my precious student, after all.” 

 

And that broke the dam. Her nose wrinkled unattractively and she sniffled and wiped her eyes and before she knew it she was leaning into Kakashi’s prestigious vest and sobbing her eyes out. Some resolve she had. 

 

Kakashi was clearly very awkward and had no idea what to do but after a few seconds a firm hand settled on her back. He hugged her and Sakura wasn’t sure that they had ever done that before in the previous lifetime. Man, being a preteen really sucked. 

 

“Sorry, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura whispered, hugging him tightly before releasing him and stepping back an appropriate distance. “Sorry.”

 

“Well, why don’t we go find the boys? Naruto probably dragged Sasuke for ramen,” Kakashi straightened up and nodded his head towards the village. Sakura was grateful.

 

“Not ramen again,” Sakura griped, a smile on her face as she wiped away the last bits of her emotional evidence and stepped forward. Kakashi chuckled and they began walking.

 

“Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura said before they approached Teuchi’s stall. 

 

“Mm?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Kakashi only gave her a tilt of his head before sliding over to scare Sasuke and Naruto, though only the latter gave a satisfying response. Sakura smiled fondly and marched over herself. Someday she’d tell him. She’d tell her whole team what had happened. But it was too early. It was much too early. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Now, for your next mission…” The hokage trailed off before thumbing through some papers. Boring D-ranks. Sakura inwardly sighed as she prepared for another day of chasing cats, washing dishes, delivering mail, weeding, or whatever horribly mundane task some lazy ass had submitted.

 

“Ah, this is perfect. Babysitting an elder’s grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with potato digging,” the Hokage finished. Sakura sighed again. Sasuke was just as grumbly beside her and the two shared a long suffering look. It was a marvel. She never would have been able to share in that sort of camaraderie at that age with Sasuke before. 

 

“No, no way! No way! No no no, no thank you! I want to do a, you know, more incredible mission! Give us something better!” Naruto shouted and Sakura’s heart dropped. It was as if a fog had dropped over her for as hazy as the next couple of minutes felt. Time slowed down as Iruka-sensei yelled at Naruto and Kakashi scolded her blonde teammate. It was too familiar.

 

Everything was far, far too familiar.

 

She continued to stand there, unseeing, as the Hokage explained ranks to Naruto and how the jobs were assigned. She desperately searched through her memories. In her heart, she knew exactly what was about to happen. Exhilaration, anxiety, fear- emotions of all sorts raced through her.

 

“I’m not the trouble making brat you still think I am!” Naruto earnestly yelled. 

 

“Ok. If you want it that much, I’ll give you a C-rank mission. It’s a protection mission of a certain individual,” the Hokage explained and Sakura’s heart thudded in her chest.

 

The C-rank mission. 

 

The C-rank mission. 

 

The C-rank mission.

 

Sakura breathed in. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the shitty chapter, still getting into the swing of things! hopefully it'll improve :) thanks so much for reading!


	5. Looking Ahead Into Nothing

Sakura stiffened as memories washed over her in a cold wave. That had been their team’s first foray into the harsh reality of ninja life. That had been the mission where she and her teammates had learned lessons too soon and too hard. 

 

Sometimes people lied.

 

Sometimes people were powerless and they turned to terrible things because there was nothing else.

 

Sometimes people just suffered undeserved misfortune, living life in miserable poverty, disease, and fear. 

 

Sometimes people took advantage of other people for no good reasons other than greed and power.

 

Sometimes people were never given a chance to be good.

 

Sometimes. Sometimes. Sometimes.

 

Sometimes people were weak. Sakura’s brow creased. No, she had been the weak one. She had been weak, and she hadn’t known what to do. She had jumped in front of the old man, Tazuna, in the beginning against the Kiri-nin, but what had she done past that point? Really, what had she done? 

 

What could she have done? 

 

She thought of Haku, the beautiful boy with the beautiful smile. Naruto had loved him, if only for the brief instance he lived in their world. Her heart ached for him. Sweet, sweet, Haku. It had taken her time after that battle. She still hadn’t really fully absorbed what Haku’s life had meant and the tragedy she had witnessed.

 

She still didn’t really like Zabuza, but Sakura knew that the world was not black and white. There were good people and there were bad people, but sometimes the good people did bad things and the bad people did good things. Sometimes the bad people once were good people and sometimes the good people were once bad people. Sometimes the bad people weren’t all that bad, and vice versa. Sakura didn’t know what the meaning of good and bad was any more. Evil was a murky concept, and she didn’t like to wade into unknown waters.

 

But she had to.

 

This was the C-rank mission. This mission was a huge event in her, Sasuke, and Naruto’s formative years. It was scary to think that she had power to change what had happened.

 

She wasn’t even sure if she should change anything.

 

It had been terrible to finally realize that Zabuza and Haku existed in the grey area. That they existed to survive, just like everyone else. That they had feelings and emotions like any other person. To watch the tragedy of a boy who had never known unconditional love and a man who didn’t know how to give it fight through a life that only wanted to suffocate them. 

 

They had been doomed from the start.

 

But Sakura thought back to Neji of the Hyuuga clan. He had been filled with the rage of a boy desperately clawing away from a future he thought himself doomed to. But he hadn’t been doomed, after all. 

 

That was really the trouble, Sakura thought. Nobody can know. The future is a tremulous thing, as tangible as the fog in the morning. It’s hard to see in front of you when it’s early and the fog is strong, but as time goes on it dissipates into nothing.

 

And of course, time travel.

 

This mission had been integral in teaching those lessons to the three. It had been sad, but at the end of the day, they had completed their original mission and they had killed Gatou without actually having to shoulder that political responsibility.

 

Really, other than their emotional attachments at the end to Zabuza and Haku, all loose ends had been tied up in the most inhumane, paperwork sense.

 

But Sakura had broken all the rules already. What were a few more? 

 

The indignant shouts of Naruto brought her back to the time she was in. She smiled, amused at his antics as they all walked past the gate. She watched him stride forward, over eager and ready for a world that still hadn’t and never would crush him. A shining, pure ray in the clouds that tried to dim his light. The break in the fog.

 

WIthout darkness, there would be no light.

 

Did Haku and Zabuza need to be pushed that far for them to realize the extent of the other’s feelings? Did they all need to fight like they did in order to truly respect one another? Without that pain, would there ever be that realization? What was necessary? What was not? 

 

Sakura bit her lip in frustration. What could she even do? Nobody would believe her flat out, and to tell them the truth was completely out of the question. They probably wouldn’t believe that either.

 

The team had gotten closer, sure, but they were still fresh and new and there was no true trust between them. 

 

“Something wrong, Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked, staring at her with a worried expression. Kakashi and Sasuke glanced at her peripherally, awaiting her response.

 

“Mm, nothing. Just thinking that it’s a very nice day. Sunny and clear skies,” Sakura smiled at them. She wasn’t sure how convincing she was, but either way they let it drop. Naruto grinned at her.

 

“Yeah! The perfect day for me to show you guys how strong I am!” Naruto punched excitedly at the air and Sakura gave a perfunctory, amused sigh and shook her head. 

 

If she had been so lost in her thoughts that Naruto of all people noticed, she really needed to up her game. And anyways, it wouldn’t do for her to be so absent minded. Not here, not now. 

 

Her remark hadn’t been entirely fluff, though. She remembered the beginning of this mission well. Any moment now, they’d stumble upon the Kiri ninja. And this time, she’d be ready.

 

Last time, she hadn’t faltered. She had jumped in front of the old man, and that had been the first moment that she had felt real pride in herself. That had been the moment she knew that she could be a ninja. That she had made the right choice. She did have it in her. 

 

It had been overshadowed by Sasuke’s display of prodigious skill, but not this time. 

 

Not this time.

 

She decided there was no harm in letting the ninja attack them first. Other than Naruto’s hand, the encounter hadn’t hurt them and she knew that Kakashi would be checking to see who they targeted. She knew now that it was Tazuna, and the conflict over the bridge. But they didn’t. 

 

So, when they passed by the puddle in the middle of the dirt road, she only glanced at Kakashi once. He glanced at her and subtly shook his head. She relaxed her body, poised to react and attack.

 

The second they trapped Kakashi in their chains, Sakura rushed at one, kunai out. The two Kiri nin ruptured the fake Kakashi and amidst the bloody display, Sakura threw her kunai at the closest ninja, watching it stick into his arm. He turned towards her, but not quickly enough, as she gathered chakra in her feet to leap at him. Feet connecting with flesh, she knocked him down into the dirt. She gathered chakra into her fist and punched him hard on the face. For good measure, she stomped viciously on the man. It only took a second for her to grab rope from her pack and tie him up against a tree. 

 

As she finished her own task, she glanced up to see how the rest were faring.

 

As expected, Sasuke had jumped into action only seconds after Sakura and was still fighting him. Naruto was standing shock still next to Tazuna, but Sakura was glad to see that his hand was uninjured.

 

This time, Kakashi waited for Sasuke to defeat the other Kiri ninja before swooping in to contain the enemy.

 

“Mm, good job. Sakura, Sasuke. Seems I was right to let you guys handle this one. I didn’t think you’d freeze up like that though, Naruto,” Kakashi amiably said.

 

“You alright, scaredy-cat?” Sasuke asked Naruto, his words waking the blonde boy up from his daze.

 

Naruto opened his mouth to shout something in response, but Kakashi quieted him.

 

“Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you,” the jounin said. He looked to where the two ninja were tied up, eyes narrowed in baleful glares. 

 

“These are chuunin rank ninja from the Hidden Village of the Mist. They’re known to not stop fighting, no matter what,” Kakashi continued.

 

“How did you read our movements?” one of them spoke up.

 

Kakashi glanced at Sakura.

 

“Well, Sakura-chan?” He prompted her. Sakura nearly flushed with pleasure at his recognition.

 

“A warm, sunny day like this? It hasn’t rained in days. Your water puddle was as obvious as a flashing sign,” Sakura said, disdainfully. 

 

“Well, why didn’t you do something about it when you spotted it?” Tazuna asked, looking at the group’s instructor. 

 

“I could have killed them instantly, but I need to know one thing. Who was their target?” Kakashi took over from there. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Were they after you or us? We haven’t heard that there were shinobi after you. Our mission was simply to protect you from thieves and gangs. This has become at least a B-rank mission. We were only to be simple protection against non-shinobi threats until you completed your bridge. If we had known there were ninjas after you, this would have been an expensive B-rank. I’m sure you have your reasons, but it causes problems when you lie about mission details. We are now operating outside our duties,” Kakashi said.

 

There was a pause as everyone took that in.

 

“This might be too much,” Kakashi mused, looking off to the side. Next to her, Sasuke stayed unwavering and quiet. She could sense Naruto, frustrated.

 

She wouldn’t be the one to say anything. Nor would Sasuke. She knew this, in her heart.

 

So, when Kakashi said, “I guess we should return to the village,” she wasn’t surprised when Naruto growled and jumped in.

 

“No! I’ll protect the old man. We’re continuing the mission! This time, I’ll be the one saving your asses!” Naruto loudly proclaimed, finger out as if a challenge. Sasuke rolled his eyes and Sakura indulged a fond smile. Kakashi’s eye crinkled and she knew they’d be alright.

 

“Well, if you insist,” Kakashi allowed. As they walked, Tazuna explained further the situation and though they already agreed to do the mission, inserted a little heart wrenching, guilt inducing pathos as well. Sakura smiled at the exchange. Craft old man.

 

It was only a second or two after that Sakura remembered the events that were to come.

 

Luckily, the walk and subsequent boat ride were relatively quiet and Sakura was allowed thinking time. She was certain that Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto knew something was on her mind, but after Naruto’s first attempt, nobody pried. Instead, they all stayed extra alert, ready for more Kiri ninja, thieves, bandits, and whatever else their world might throw at them.

 

Sakura let Naruto stupidly point out a non-existent enemy in the bushes, chuckling instead of yelling at him. Several more times the team watched the blonde boy fail to sense a legitimate enemy, though he did manage to rustle out several nefarious leaves and insects.

 

It was on the fifth attempt when Naruto killed the rabbit and that was when Sakura knew. 

 

She saw Kakashi carefully and casually look around, pausing on a small area. It was only a second, but Sakura knew right away that was where Zabuza was standing. 

 

“Get down!” Kakashi yelled, but Sakura’s body was already in motion, jolting towards Naruto to push him down flat on the ground. After the initial strike ended, she sprang back into position.

 

She knew that before, her job was to guard Tazuna with Sasuke and Naruto. But if she didn’t help Kakashi in the early stages of the fight, he’d be incapacitated for a while. She had been teaching Naruto and Sasuke the basics of chakra control for a reason. If they already had those basics somewhat under control, then Kakashi could instruct them on further advanced things. Maybe new jutsu, or refining other basics. Either way, she wasn’t about to let weeks and weeks of teaching the boys go to waste.

 

She also couldn’t just step in and take control of the fight. 

 

She would have to be very, very careful. 

 

Sakura didn’t have the time to create a strategy. There were events that happened exactly like they did in her past life, and there were events that didn’t. Battles were always the unknown variable. She couldn’t and she wouldn’t put any faith that any fight would be exactly the same as before.

 

The only thing that she could do was try her best, fight her hardest, and pray that things would go better than last time. 

 

Kakashi was already engaged with Zabuza, which gave Sakura just enough time to whisper to Sasuke and Naruto.

 

“Stay here, wait for my signal. You’ll know,” Sakura told them quietly, before gathering chakra at her feet and leaping into the trees. Her teammates stood there as she had told them to, but she wasn’t sure if it was because of any trust they had in her or if it was because of Zabuza’s massive, matured killing intent.

 

Either way, it worked in her favor that neither of them were feeling hot headed enough to jump into the fray just yet. 

 

That would have to wait. 

 

Kakashi was fighting with Zabuza, his eye capturing every move and giving Sakura time to make her move. Of course, Kakashi didn’t know that Sakura was planning on fighting. 

 

Sakura might have felt somewhat bad for him and Haku’s tragic fate, but that kind of murder was revolting and Sakura wasn’t sure if it was forgivable. 

 

She would not be gentle. 

 

She quickly thought over what she had brought in her pack. Nothing special, just kunai and shuriken. Some bandages, some rope. Rations. A bed roll. Grabbing a kunai in each hand, she prepped to jump at him, waiting for a moment when the man’s full attention was on Kakashi.

 

Without a sound, she jumped down and leaped onto Zabuza’s back, digging one kunai each as hard as she could into his left and right acromioclavicular joints. 

 

Zabuza shouted at the impact, and tried to shake her off, but the pain in his shoulders was too much. He had lost the ability to move his arms, and he glared at her as she held on, continuing to press them in.

 

“Good aim, little girl,” Zabuza growled. His voice was rough and low, but Sakura knew that she heard a faint note of respect. Good. 

 

“Just lucky,” Sakura said demurely, pressing a little harder on the kunai. She hadn’t spent all that time under Tsunade’s hellish medic training for nothing. Of course she could pinpoint and target any body part she wanted. 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Kakashi started towards Zabuza, presumably to finish him off. She wasn’t sure if she should let him, but she didn’t have to make the choice because two senbon flew through the air and right into Zabuza’s neck, paralyzing the man and dropping him onto the ground.

 

Sakura knew that if she were to check, there’d be no pulse.

 

But she knew he wasn’t dead.

 

The masked boy dropped down, just like before. He offered the same paltry disguise as before, but Sakura held on to Zabuza’s body.

 

“Senbon are precise instruments,” She pointedly remarked.

 

“Mm, yes. In my opinion, it is the easiest way to take out missing nins without much fuss,” Haku said. 

 

“There are a lot of areas in the neck you could target that wouldn’t kill a man,” Sakura pushed.

 

“She’s right. You could have easily just put this man into a sleep state,” Kakashi joined in.

 

The boy’s impassive mask regarded them. Sakura could sense that he was getting closer to desperation.

 

“Kakashi-sensei, don’t hunter nins usually dispose of the body where they find them?” Sakura asked.

 

“What a star student you are. You’re correct. They do,” Kakashi responded. His voice dropped low towards the end as he fixed the boy with a hard stare. 

 

“So suspicious,” Haku said, hands up in a placating gesture. One hand reached up and slowly, so slowly, he removed his mask.

 

They all stared at the beautiful boy’s sweet face. Sakura was surprised he’d removed her mask, but she stayed at the ready. It could have been to disarm them, and she needed to be prepared should he jump into battle at any second.

 

“I don’t really want to fight you all,” Haku said, looking at each one individually before continuing on to say, “But I will if I have to. And regardless if I managed to win or not, I’d manage to kill at least half your party. I might not be a legitimate hunter nin, but believe me when I say I could easily get in on skill.” 

 

“Yeah? Hey lady! Fight me! Then we’ll see!” Naruto shouted before Sasuke whacked him on the head, muttering for him to be quiet. Haku turned and gave Naruto a smile.

 

“I admire your energy. And your spunk,” he said.

 

“How old are you?” Naruto demanded, breaking free from Sasuke’s light hold on him.

 

“Well, I’m just a kid. Same as you,” Haku answered, smiling warmly at Naruto again.

 

“How can you be so young and-and be so strong? A guy that strong was just taken down by a kid! He’s not that different from me, but he took him down! We look stupid! How can I understand that?!” Naruto shouted, frustration coloring his voice. 

 

Sakura smiled at that one. She knew and understood Naruto very well. It was hard, being weak and knowing it. Knowing that there were so many so much more powerful in the world. Sakura had come to terms with it a long time ago, telling herself to ignore comparisons. All that mattered was that she kept forging onward and continued to improve.

 

“Well, I know how you feel. But this is also the truth. In this world, there exists kids younger than you, yet stronger than me,” Kakashi answered, pushing a hand on top of Naruto’s head to ruffle his hair, eye still trained on the boy. 

 

“I don’t suppose you’ll let me take that body, then. Will you?” Haku asked. Naruto was shaking his head vehemently. 

 

“No way! Who are you anyways? What do you want?” Naruto yelled. 

 

“My name is Haku,” Haku answered. “And I want to take Zabuza-san and fix him up.” 

 

“Why in the heck would we let you do that?”

 

“I told you my name. What’s yours?” 

 

“Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, and I’m gonna be the next Hokage!” 

 

“I’m honored to speak with the future Hokage. Why do you want to be the next Hokage?”

 

“Cause if I’m the best ninja in the village, then everyone has to acknowledge me and my strength! And I need to prove it for someone!” Naruto quickly responded, the same answer he always gave. Sakura felt a pang in her chest at that, once again reminded at the unfairness of the world. Naruto deserved better. 

 

“Is that for someone else? Or is it for yourself?” Haku pressed on. 

 

“Uh. Hah?” Naruto looked at Haku, not understanding. Next to him, Sasuke huffed out a quiet sigh. Kakashi and Sakura glanced at each other, small smiles of understanding.

 

“Do you… have someone who is important to you?” Haku continued. 

 

“What?” 

 

“When a person has something important to protect, that’s when they can truly become strong,” Haku explained. Naruto took a second to absorb that before he grinned up at Haku.

 

“Yeah! I understand that very well!”

 

“Well, my important someone is Zabuza-san,” Haku said, gesturing towards where Sakura was still carefully guarding the stiff body. 

 

“Why? Why that man? He’s a monster!” Naruto shouted, the anger and adrenaline from the previous fight flushing back into his cheeks. “He killed his entire class!” 

 

“I know. But Zabuza-san has always been kind to me,” Haku said. “I was born into a village that hated me. I had a bloodline limit that the people feared. My father killed my mother when he discovered what I had. What I was. I killed him before he could kill me, but then my whole world was gone. I had nothing to live for. Nobody who cared for me or thought I was worth anything. But then Zabuza-san came along. He saved me.”

 

“How? How could your father do that?” Naruto asked, face contorted with anger and sadness. Naruto’s chin wobbled and Sakura could feel herself growing more and more sad every second. 

 

“The world is an ugly place, Naruto-kun,” Haku responded simply, his smile turned apologetic.

 

“Maa, alright. This has been emotional and sad and heartwarming and I’m happy for the lessons you’re trying to impart on my students, but we really will need a better reason to let you attend to Zabuza,” Kakashi finally interrupted. It was a miracle that everyone had let Haku and Naruto converse as long as they had anyways. 

 

“Who are you working for? Gatou?” Kakashi pressed on. Haku’s face shuttered slightly as he went back to business. 

 

“For now,” Haku answered simply.

 

“He’ll betray you,” Sakura finally stepped in. She wasn’t sure how much he would believe her, but she tried to inject all the sincerity she could. It was true. Gatou was a slimy man.

 

“We will kill him before that happens,” Haku stated, turning his gaze to the small girl. 

 

“He’s just using you two. He’s planning on killing you. Why are you even working for him?”

 

“Why does anyone work for anybody? Zabuza-san and I are just trying to survive. Same as you, same as anybody.” 

 

“You can survive in other ways! Don’t fight for him! He’ll turn on you the second you complete his dirty work and then we’ll all suffer the consequences,” Sakura pleaded once more. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Haku answered, his voice filled with true regret. And before they could do anything about it, he had leapt and snatched Zabuza’s body. He was in the trees, Zabuza slung over his shoulder, when Haku turned to look at Naruto.

 

“And by the way, I’m a boy.” 

 

And with that, he left. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it took so long! Hope you enjoyed this. This work is NOT abandoned and I do plan on working on it more now that I've finished my other ongoing fic. Anyways, I've got some plans for this and I'm excited to write more!
> 
> Have a wonderful day!

**Author's Note:**

> Does anybody even read naruto fanfic anymore? 
> 
> Also plz forgive my shit title thx <3 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr here: eevaeon.tumblr.com


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